Riverside Fun
by ness345
Summary: Its a hot day, and everyones flocking to the river...but why is Kakashi without his mask, Sasuke laughing and Kurenai in her underwear? KakaKure, SasuSaku, NejiTen, InoShika, NaruHina Finally updated, chapter 24 up
1. Match Makers

Hi, this is my first Naruto fic so please let me know what you think. Also, it's going to be a Kakashi/Kurenai and Sakura/Sasuke centered fic but will include Naruto/Hinata, Ino/Shika and Neji/Tenten. I'd like to dedicate this to all of you who have written Kakashi/Kurenai fics because you inspired me to write this! Anyway, enjoy and please let me know what you think. Nessiexxx

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It was another scorching day; the sun beat down on the silver haired ninja's back whilst he sat in a tree, happily reading his new issue of Icha Icha Paradise. Team 7 were currently standing down below him, training away whilst sweating like crazy. The heat was getting to them all, and it was starting to become unbearable.

"Kakashi-Sensei" called Sakura. "If we keep this up we'll pass out from dehydration and sunstroke" Even Sasuke had to admit she was right.

"**This is CRAZY**" yelled Naruto. "**You can't make me do this**"

"Think again Naruto" said Kakashi without even glancing away from his book. "You know why we are doing this, you have only yourself to blame"

Naruto just yelled before running at the tree once again. "Don't worry Sakura" he continued. "I will be sure to take you straight to the hospital if that is the case"

Kakashi grinned at his students before turning back to his book; it was just getting to the good part. The girl had just fallen for the guy and had stupidly agreed to let him in for 'coffee', Kakashi was just picturing the girls full lips pout in indecision before her red eyes widened as realization dawned.

'Wait a second' thought Kakashi. 'Where did red eyes come from? As far as I can remember she's supposed to be blonde with blue eyes. There's only one kunoichi I know with black her and red eyes and I certainly don't think of Kurenai like that'.

"Kakashi" came a female voice from behind him, causing him to spin around quickly. Kurenai smirked, it wasn't everyday you managed to catch the famous copy ninja off guard.

"Kurenai, didn't see you there" he replied nonchalantly.

"So I noticed" she smirked.

"Was there a reason why you were sneaking up on me?"

"For your information, I wasn't sneaking" she smiled slyly. "I was on my way home and noticed you here...haven't you finished training yet?"

"Oh, we finished training a while back, this is punishment now"

"For what?" she asked curiously.

"For trying to steal my book" he answered as she giggled, Kakashi couldn't help but smile at the girly giggle, he rarely got to hear such a delightful sound.

"But Kakashi-sensei, I said I was sorry already" yelled Naruto suddenly. "This is just plain **EVIL**"

"Naruto" Kakashi spoke up calmly. "The more you complain, the more I will make you work. And didn't anyone ever tell you it's rude to eavesdrop?"

"He's sorry sensei" spoke Sakura quickly while Naruto just grumbled. "He won't do it again" and with that she dragged him over to where Sasuke was still training.

"So Kurenai" smiled Kakashi innocently. "Why are you really here?" his mischievous eye gave him away as he grinned at her blush.

"Ok, I actually came here to talk about Hinata" she smiled softly.

'Hinata?' thought Kakashi. 'That shy little Hyuuga girl? I wonder what that has to do with me?'

"I don't know if you've noticed" continued Kurenai. 'Being a guy and all' she added in her mind. "But Hinata seems to have a crush on Naruto..."

"Let me guess" interrupted Kakashi. "You want to know if Naruto may feel the same way"

"Yes please" she grinned.

"Well" thought Kakashi, finally putting his book away. "It all depends on Sakura and Sasuke really" he mused. "You see, you must have noticed that Naruto has a crush on Sakura, who in turn has a crush on Sasuke"

"Kakashi" smiled Kurenai. "I think the whole WORLD knows about that!"

"Quite" he agreed. "But that wasn't my point. My point was, if Sakura manages to get through to Sasuke and he falls for her, then Naruto will have no choice but to move on. However, if Sakura can't get through to Sasuke, then she'll eventually give up and _may_ give Naruto a chance"

"Since when did you get to know so much about romance?" she asked quizzically.

"Hey" he smiled, whipping his book back out. "This isn't _just_ a perverted book you know" he winked as she rolled her eyes.

"So you'll help?" she asked suddenly.

"Set them up?" he asked. "Why do you care?"

"Hinata's my student, and I love her as if she were my own daughter" she smiled softly. "So will you help?"

"Sure" Kakashi smiled at her briefly before returning his gaze to his book, slyly watching her grin widen. 'I like it when she smiles' he thought to himself.

"So what do you have planned for the rest of the day?" asked Kakashi.

"It's too hot for plans" retorted Kurenai as she flopped on the branch beside him.

"_It's_ too hot or _you're_ too hot?" asked Kakashi innocently.

"Kakashi-sensei" yelled Naruto suddenly. "Sorry to interrupt you're _flirting_, but can we go now?" Kakashi merely rolled his eyes as Kurenai suddenly realized what Kakashi's question could have sounded like. 'Was it merely a coincidence?' she asked herself. 'Or does he think I'm hot?'

"Go on then Naruto" said Kakashi flatly before Naruto gave a massive 'whoop' and ran away as fast as he could before Kakashi could change his mind.

"Sasuke, Sakura" he addressed his other students. "You're free to go" He smiled as he watched them stop their training and pick up their kunai before he turned to Kurenai. "As for you" he said mysteriously. "I want to show you something" he then grabbed her hand, helped her to her feet, and then took off with her further into the woods. Sakura grinned. 'I wonder if he realises that he's fallen for her' she wondered before turning to leave.

Sasuke watched her intrigued. He was waiting for the usual 'Will you go out with me Sasuke-kun' or 'would you like to train with me', instead, she was just walking away and he was surprised when he realized this bothered him.

"Sakura" he called, causing her to turn and face him.

"Yes Sasuke-kun?" she questioned meekly.

"What happened to you bugging me for a date?" he asked, slightly intrigued.

She just shrugged. "It's too hot to get turned down today"

"That's a shame" he smirked. "I was going to say yes to going swimming" he watched amused when he saw her eyes widen, along with her smile.

"Really?" she squeaked, then seemed to realize something and frowned.

"What's wrong?" he asked, slightly annoyed. "Don't you want to?" He wasn't as much annoyed at her, as annoyed at himself for asking and then getting rejected.

"It's not that" she assured. "It's just; I only have a bikini…"

"If your worried I'm going to think your trying to seduce me, don't. It's ok"

"Ok" agreed Sakura. "I'll meet you outside my house in 15 minutes?"

"Hn" agreed Sasuke as he walked away.

'What did you just do?' he thought to himself. 'Why did you go and do that?' It was annoying Sasuke that his reason for asking her couldn't have been because he wanted to stop Sakura from nagging him to go out with her, because she wasn't the one to ask. It was entirely his own faultand he didn't like that one bit.

As soon as Sasuke saw Sakura, his mouth dropped. There she stood, in her baby pink bikini, sporting a wraparound sarong with a flower in her hair. She looked truly stunning. "Wow" he whispered before mentally slapping himself and forcing himself to look away.  
"Come on then" he said before walking off towards the river whilst Sakura jogged to catch up with him. 'Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all' thought Sasuke before catching another glimpse of Sakura in that bikini. 'Then again…'


	2. Skinny Dipping

At last Kakashi stopped and Kurenai finally got the chance to look around at where she was. She noticed they were in a slight valley, in the branches of a Japanese cherry tree and were surrounded by a forest of others with colourful leaves and flowers. The trees seemed aglow with reds, pinks and yellows that the sight was indescribable. As her hearing returned, she recognized the sound of water and realized that they were perched over the bank of a wide lagoon with a waterfall to the north. To the south the lagoon merged into a river that ran off around a corner. She soon realized that the water was the only sound in the valley that seemed so tranquil that she couldn't believe they were still in Konoha.

Kakashi sat down on the branch, got out his Icha Icha Paradise book and smiled secretly at her wide-eyed expression.

"Kakashi" she finally managed to choke out. "This place is…" she quietened off, not being about to find the right word to describe how truly wonderful this place was. He just smiled, completely understanding her dilemma as he gestured for her to sit and she complied. "It's beautiful" she finished lamely.

"Yeah" Kakashi agreed, not taking his eyes off of her.

Kurenai realized this and, blushing slightly, changed the subject. "How ever did you find this place?" she asked, still trying to take it all in.

"Well" he considered. "I was out training one day, and got a tad carried away and didn't realize where I was going until I landed in the lagoon"

"Do you come here often?" she asked, trying to keep a straight face whilst picturing the copy ninja falling into the lagoon.

"Whenever I feel that I need some peace and quiet" admitted Kakashi. "Especially when I feel the need to escape from my adorable students"

"I know what you mean" agreed Kurenai.

"Don't tell me you get tired of your little angels" scoffed Kakashi as she rolled her eyes. "Oh come on, your lucky you haven't got my guys. I've got a boy who's infatuated with the girl, who in turn thinks she's in love with the other guy who couldn't care less and is only set on destroying his brother and has no emotions at all. This causes the first boy to become infuriated and wants to beat the second guy, who still couldn't give a toss and just insults him. I tell you, it's enough to make your head bleed" he moaned, just thinking about it as Kurenai scoffed.

"Ok, I agree your's is bad, but my lot aren't easy. I've got one boy who wants me to be a marriage guidance counselor for his bugs, whilst the other boy is complaining because the bugs keep making homes in his dog. Then he tries to kill them and gets the other boy mad for killing his bugs. Then there's Hinata, sweet little girl but it takes a LOT of patience and encouragement to get her to do anything, especially when your trying to stop a bug war" she exclaimed. "And to top it all, this is my first ever group"

Kakashi smiled. 'You don't need to tell me how amazing you are' he thought, but couldn't let her know that so decided on saying "Well this is mine too"

"Only because you've never let your other ones pass before" she argued.

"True, but the others didn't pass my test. They didn't understand that your teammates are more important then rules"

"Well done Kakashi" she grinned. "You've managed to contradict yourself in less than five minutes, I'm impressed"

"You don't agree?"

"Of course I agree. But not five minutes ago you were complaining how your team _didn't _act like teammates"

"Oh, they argue, but who doesn't? What matters is; when it counts, they are always there for each other, we're like one big family" he says sarcastically.

"It's nice, isn't it?" she agrees. "It's like Kiba and Shino are Hinata's big brothers, they're always protecting her and standing up for her"

"Does that make you the mother?" he asks cheekily

"I prefer the 'sexy older sister'" she grins.

"Works for me" he agreed, looking her over, nose still behind his book.

"What about you?" she asks quickly, cheeks tinting a rose colour.

"I'd have to go with 'annoyingly gorgeous uncle'" he smirked.

"Funny, I'd have said more '_annoying'_" she smirked back.

"Well, annoying gorgeous uncle, that works too I guess, don't you think so?" he asked, daring her to say otherwise and Kurenai suddenly realized she couldn't say no, but she also knew that she couldn't say yes either.

"As fun as this has been" she smiled sarcastically. "It's getting hotter and I've got to get going, I have a ton of paperwork that needs doing"

"Oh, Kurenai" he sighed, rolling his eyes.

"What?" she asked before she could stop herself.

"You're not still thinking of work? Don't you ever have another topic of conversation?"

"Are you calling me _boring_ Hatake?" she questioned testily.

"Those we're your words, not mine" he defended. "But it's your day off, I do agree that it's hot, but there are other ways of cooling off"

"And I'm sure sitting in an air conditioned room doing paperwork is not one of them" she replied sulkily.

"No" he assured, face still hidden in his book.

"And you think I'm boring when all you ever do is read that awful book" she conjured. "At least my suggestion for cooling down is sensible, I'm sure yours would be something along the lines of skinny dipping" she was just about to get up and storm off when his head suddenly popped out from behind his book.

"That's not a bad idea actually, now that you mention it" he considered before jumping down from the branch, putting his book away in the process.

"You're not serious" asked Kurenai, eyes wide.

"Perfectly" he assured, taking off his sandals and jacket. Kurenai 'humphed' and was just about to leave when Kakashi's shirt dropped to the ground and she was left with the gorgeous view of the reflected sunlight from the water dancing across his firm abs. She knew this was wrong, that she should close her eyes, turn away and stop… 'But _damn _this guy is fit' she thought to herself. It wasn't until she realized that his thumbs were now hooked into the top of his trousers and were jerked down that she managed to quickly shut her eyes and turn away.

"Don't worry Kurenai" smiled Kakashi evilly. "I'm not going to fully strip, you can still look. Besides, it's just the same as wearing swimming trunks after all"

Kurenai slowly turned around to see Kakashi standing there in his red and blue boxers. She knew what Kakashi said was true, they were the same as trunks, but she couldn't help but remember that those were his underwear. She also couldn't help but wonder why he hadn't taken his mask off. She watched eyes wide as he leapt into the water before emerging on his back.

"Mmmm" he moaned. "This feels so refreshing. Are you going to join me?"

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Hi, thanks for all the people who reviewed the first chapter, I really appreciate all the support. Also, I'm going to try and post at least one chapter every week since I've already got a few more ready. However, I am slowly running out of ideas, so if you've got any suggestions, or scenes you'd like to see including all the characters in the river...feel free to get in touch! Anyway, let me know what you think. Nessiexxx


	3. Not the way jounins should act

Hey guys, thanks for all the amazing reviews, they were so nice that I decided to update early. Also, for all you Kakashi and Kurenai fans out there, I just thought you might be in the C2 community I created called 'Kakashi&Kurenai' which is basically all the KakaKure stories I could find. So if you have a story that isn't in there (unlikely but possible!) then let me know.

**Ninjax5000** - glad u like the story, and I think your going to like this chapter even more! ;-) **Rina** - I have taken your ideas into consideration, I'm just trying to see how to fit it in. I shall try though. **Tishey Kasano** - Glad you like the story. And don't worry, completion is on it's way...just not for a while yet! **me** **- **glad you think my story is that good. Be sure to check out my C2 for more stories. But I totally agree, there aren't enough stories with KakaKure.**Chinksta** - don't worry...it's on its way ;-) **Evil Kirby** - I totally agree, be sure to check my C2 for stories you may not have read.

And everyone else, thank you so much for all the suport. It means a lot. Now, on with the story!

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Kurenai sat still, not sure what to do. The idea did look incredibly refreshing, and a voice inside of her was screaming to join him, but she couldn't help but listen to the small voice inside that was telling her this was not the way a jounin should behave. "I don't have my swim suit with me" she muttered as an excuse.

"Like I care" he smiled, rolling his eyes. "Just wear your underwear, it's no different from wearing a bikini after all" he reasoned. Kurenai rolled her eyes but jumped down onto the bank of the lagoon anyway.

Kakashi looked mildly surprise as she removed her sandals, he hadn't expected her to actually agree, then he had another thought. 'I wonder how long it takes her to put on and take off all those bandages'. Just then Kurenai simply fazed through the clothes, like she fazes through trees during her tree binding illusion. 'That answers that question then' he smiles before suddenly realising that she is stood before him, clad in nothing but her red satin bra and panties. His eyes widened as he looked at all her curves and incredibly feminine body, he found he couldn't help but stare. It wasn't until Kurenai did a perfect dive into the lagoon that he was snapped out of it. 'How is Icha Icha Paradise supposed to compare with that now?' he thought suddenly before realising his position. 'This is going to be fun' and with that he dove under the water just before Kurenai emerged.

"Wow, you were right Kakashi, this is really refreshing" she then realised she was talking to thin air. "Kakashi?" she called.

Just then she felt a hand grab her ankle before she was pulled back under the water again. She burst through the surface to be met by the sound of laughter.

"You are SO dead" she yelled before splashing him with water.

Kakashi forced the chakra to his feet and stood on the water before simply creating a water encampment wall which caused the wave of water to bounce back. He then proceeded to drop it and use his water dragon blast technique. Kurenai just took one look at the dragon, muttered "cheater" and disappeared using her genjutsu.

"What's the matter? Afraid to fight me face to face?" he goaded

"I'm sorry Kakashi" her voice floated over the sudden wind. "But I don't play into anyone's hands. Besides, I quite like being in control of my own body"

"You don't think I'd take advantage of you after I've hypnotized you, do you?"

"I think that's _exactly_ what you'd do" a massive wave suddenly appeared above Kakashi who just stood there.

"Kai" he simply said and the illusion vanished.

"You are no fun Kakashi" came Kurenai's voice again

"Well, I'm up against the genjutsu specialist" he smiled. "I have to be prepared"

He watched as Kurenai suddenly appeared and charged at him. He started making hand signs but before he could finish the illusion burst into a shower of rose petals.

"What was that?" she asked

"Yeah yeah, just because I haven't activated the sharingan" he defended.

"Are you saying you couldn't beat me without it?" she asked

Another figure appeared and burst just like before

"You're getting repetitive Kurenai" he smirked

"I'm sorry" she apolagised before five clones ran at him. He created five water clones to battle her illusions. All five of the illusions along with his five water clones burst into petals which caused Kakashi to become confused. All of a sudden he felt a wall of water hit him.

"Congratulations, you got me" he said sarcastically. "Can we stop now?"

"Not just yet" replied Kurenai before another of her illusions ran at him. Just as the illusion reached him it burst into petals, Kakashi turned his back on it.

"Like I said before; repetitive" he sighed.

"Really?" whispered Kurenai, except this time he could hear her voice clearly. He whipped around to see her standing right there, a mischievous smile on her face. Suddenly the surroundings changed and Kakashi found the sun set and the sky alight with thousands of stars. The moon was reflecting on the lagoon and as he looked at Kurenai, he gasped. She stood there in an elegant red ball gown that had long flared sleeves and was low cut and reached the top of the water, covering her feet, it was then that he looked down and realized he was wearing a black suit. A slow song started playing over the breeze and echoed around the tranquil valley.

"Dance with me" whispered Kurenai before taking his hand and placing her spare hand on his shoulder. Kakashi silently wrapped the hand she wasn't holding around her waist and took off dancing across the top of the lagoon.

Kakashi wasn't stupid, he knew this was just another one of her illusions, but he found himself rather enjoying this one.

"Can I ask you a question?" asked Kurenai, breaking the silence.

"Sure" he answered

"Why do you wear your mask?" Kakashi smiled

"To keep my fellow team members focused and to stop you from jumping my bones" he smirked whilst Kurenai just rolled her eyes.

"Someone's sure of himself" she smiled. "Why really?"

"It is kind of that" argued Kakashi. "But I guess it all started when I was younger, my dad used to wear one and I used to think he was so cool, you know? So I asked my parents for a mask for my birthday so I could be just like dad" he smiled fondly at the memory. "And now it just feels weird without it"

Kurenai pouted. "But I want to see what you really look like"

"I'm sure you do" he smirked.

"Take it off for me" she whispered in his ear. Kakashi looked at her, continuing to dance. She was still pouting, he watched her bottom lip wobbling and had to keep himself from biting it right there. "I took off my clothes for you" she added. With a sigh, Kakashi slowly removed his mask and threw it to where the rest of his clothes were. Kurenai stood there staring, she couldn't believe how truly handsome this guy was.

"Told you" smiled Kakashi as if he had read her thoughts which instantly brought her back to earth.

"I think I can restrain myself" she replied sarcastically. "But you should leave it off; you look…" she struggled to find the right word. "Better without it"

"As good as you do wet?" he inquired quietly.

"Huh?" was all she could ask before she felt herself being dunked under the water and being pulled back up into his grasp.

"I'm still just a red blooded male after all" he reasoned whilst looking at her dripping form. Her eyes were blazing, her long hair was wavy and her lips were red…and with that last thought he brought his lips down to meet hers.

Kurenai's illusion slowly vanished until it was just the two of them, under the blaring sun on the lagoon, in just their underwear. Kurenai was shocked, shocked that this was happening, then her shock changed to how she liked it. Kakashi was equally shocked at what he was doing…but if she wasn't going to stop it then he certainly wasn't. He wrapped his arms around her waist whilst she wrapped hers around his neck. He finally got to fulfill his wish and instantly took her bottom lip between his teeth as she moaned. When breathing started to become an issue, they pulled back. It wasn't until that moment that realisation suddenly hit them like a slap in the face and they both fell through the lake's surface in their shock.

'What the hell have I done?' thought Kakashi as he stared at Kurenai's red face.

'We can't do this, I can't fall for a fellow Jounin, it's not supposed to happen' Kurenai went through all the rules she could think of about this situation.

"Hey" spoke Kakashi, trying to think of a way to right this. "You think you could beat me at a wave ride?"

"Oh, you are so gonna lose" grinned Kurenai, relief flooding through her when Kakashi gave them a way out.

Soon they were using Kurenai's illusion to create a wave whilst Kakashi grabbed two pieces of bark for boards, and soon they were off down the river and around the corner.

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Well, hope you liked it. Please be sure to hit the review button and let me hear your thoughts and ideas. And all you Sasuke/Sakura fans, don't worry, they're on their way next!


	4. I expected more from you

Well here it is, we finally get to see what Sakura and Sasuke are getting up to. I want to apolagise in advance if Sasuke seems a tad out of character, but it was the best I could do. Thanks to all my wonderful reviewers and I hope your still enjoying it. PLease leave any comments or ideas that you'd like to see and I shall try and include them.

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Sakura carefully laid her towel out under a tree before turning and watching Sasuke take his top off. 'He's so fit' she thought as she silently giggled. She then proceeded to take of her sandals and sarong before diving into the river.

Sasuke watched her intently, trying his hardest to prevent the nosebleed he knew was coming. 'Oh come on' he thought to himself 'She's not _that_ sexy'. Just then Sakura emerged from the water, eyes closed, shaking her hair to get rid of the water and time stopped for Sasuke. 'Dammit'

"Are you alright Sasuke-kun?" she asked concerned, he appeared to be just standing there with a glazed expression on his perfect face.

Sasuke shook it off, grunted to let her know he was, and then jumped into the river splashing Sakura in the process.

"Sasuke" she shrieked as she was coated in water.

"What?" he asked innocently.

"You just completely splashed me"

"Oh, you mean like this?" he asked thoughtfully whilst slapping the top of the water in her direction, causing her to shriek again.

"Sasuke" she cried.

"What?" he asked contemplatively. "Oh, you mean this?" With a small smile he splashed her again.

"Stop doing that" she ordered.

"Doing what?" he asked innocently, his smile growing.

"This" she screeched before splashing him.

"Oh, now your in for it" he yelled before splashing her again, causing a massive water fight to occur. When Sakura realized she wasn't going to win this by merely splashing, what with her smaller hands, she fell backwards onto her back before kicking the water at him. Sasuke was met by a wave of water and was drenched.

"Hey, no fair" he called, causing her to move upright again.

"This is so much fun" beamed Sakura. Sasuke was just about to agree with her when he realized what he was agreeing to. 'Fun?' he thought to himself 'This is fun, but I can't have fun. I'm an avenger, I don't have time for fun, I can't have fun till I kill my brother' He quickly turned back to the bank and got out.

Sakura sighed; she knew she had unintentionally uttered the dreaded 'F' word. She silently followed him; it was a sunny day after all, so she might as well get a tan whilst she's here. She stretched out on her towel whilst watching Sasuke stare off into the distance. She looked back up towards the sky before closing her eyes.

"Why do you do this to yourself, Sasuke-kun?" she asked quietly.

Sasuke snapped his head back towards her, seeing that she had her eyes closed and appeared calm he got confused.

"Hn?" he questioned emotionlessly.

"Sasuke-kun" she sighed, opening her eyes so he could see that what she was saying was sincere. "I know what your brother did to you was absolutely horrific…" she held her hand up as he started to speak. "And I'm not going to pretend that I know what you feel like, cause we both know that would be a lie. I can't even imagine what you must be going through, but I do know that by living this way you are sentencing yourself to fall into Itachi's plan"

Sasuke looked confused, and slightly shocked. No one had ever tried bringing this conversation up with him before. At his confused look Sakura continued.

"Why do you think your brother let you live Sasuke-kun?" she asked rhetorically, knowing she wasn't going to get an answer anyway. "Admittedly, back then you weren't a threat, but why leave one member left; you weren't the only youngster there after all. Itachi didn't kill you because he knew you, because he knew that you'd blame yourself; he knew you'd give up your childhood to become an avenger, that's worse then death" she added quietly.

Sasuke thought back. 'Live in an unseemly way' that's what he had said. Maybe Sakura was right, maybe he had known all along.

"I didn't think you'd let your brother win so easily" she added to Sasuke's surprise.

"What?" he asked as Sakura rolled her eyes.

"Sasuke, your brother knew what would happen, but he wasn't the one to make it happen. You're the one who chose your path; you condemned yourself to a life of misery, loneliness and training. It's you who made that choice, not Itachi, you're the one pushing everyone away, not Itachi, you're in control over your own Life"

Sasuke continued to sit and think during her little rant. He knew that what she said had some validity to it, it was his choice, and he didn't care. He honestly didn't… 'Dammit' he thought. 'Her words are starting to get to me'. Sakura continued.

"I know you're the last person who _needs _help Sasuke-kun" she smiled. "But wouldn't it be nice to know that there are friends out there who want to help, just because they're your friends and that's what friends do? Wouldn't it be nice to have someone to share your feelings and memories with, who can share your joy and pain? Someone who can cheer you up and make you feel needed? I mean, what's going to happen after you kill your brother, what are you going to do then? What will your purpose be then?" she asked, causing him to think.

"Besides" she continued. In a way she had forgotten Sasuke was still there and was just rambling off all the questions she had ever wondered about. "I thought you said that you didn't let anything run your life?"

"I don't" argued Sasuke quickly.

"Funny, looks like your letting Itachi run your life from here. You're so set on killing him that you're missing out on all the joys of living" she paused as she said the next sentence that stunned Sasuke into oblivion. "I expected more from you" and with that said, she turned, put on her sarong and sandals and started walking away. Sasuke sat there, bewildered, letting everything she just said whirl around in his head. 'Is it true?' he asked himself. 'Am I really letting him rule my life?' then he heard Sakura's last sentence echo in his head. 'I expected more from you'…

"Sakura" he yelled, causing her to stop and turn around. "You really mean that, don't you?" he asked, still unsure about what to make of it.

She quietly nodded and walked over to where he was sitting, taking a seat beside him. 'Have I really gotten through to him?' she wondered.

"You're right" said Sasuke suddenly. "And I never realized it until just now. I have been pushing people away, I guess I was just scared that if I let anyone close to me again then they would get hurt…I would get them hurt"

"Sasuke" she muttered soothingly. "It wasn't your fault, you weren't the reason they were hurt. Besides, we're shinobi, we all have to live with that fear, but it isn't a good enough reason to live our lives alone. It takes trust"

"I want to try" admitted Sasuke quietly. "But I don't know what to do"

"Well" considered Sakura smiling. "Earlier was fun"

Sasuke smiled as he thought back, that water fight was fun, and if that's what it was like to have fun, he was seriously missing out. He smirked to himself as an evil idea came into his head.

"It was, wasn't it?" he asked Sakura before swooping her up into his arms.

"Sasuke, what are you…" Sakura never got to finish her question because at that moment Sasuke jumped into the river with her.

"Argh" she screamed. "You completely wrecked my sarong" she yelled, taking it off along with her sandals and throwing them onto the bank near her towel.

"Its ok" smiled Sasuke reassuringly. "I never liked it anyway"

"I hate you" screeched Sakura, eyes throwing daggers.

"I thought you loved me" retorted Sasuke mischievously.

"**ARGHHHHHHHHH**" she yelled before swimming after him as he swam away laughing. "**I'm going to kill you**" she continued as she grabbed his foot and yanked him under. Sasuke emerged choking slightly, only to splash a wave of water at her, and just like that, the water fight was back on.

/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\

Don't forget to review and I shall definitely post more next week.


	5. Gang up on the one eyed ninja day

Hi guys, thanks for all the wonderful reviews, they mean a lot. And a special thank you to tiffanylicis for reviewing every chapter so far. So this chapter is specially for you!

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Sasuke suddenly stopped. "Sakura, did you just hear something?" he asked.

"Yeah, like I'm falling for that" she humphed, getting ready to attack again.

"No, I'm serious" he insisted, signaling her to listen.

They heard a muffled voice say something about winning before another voice answered; "You do realize I'm letting you win right?"

"That one was male" whispered Sakura.

The first voice seemed to mutter something before the male voice spoke again; "Besides, I like the view from back here, you know you should really consider wearing a thong" "Kakashi" screeched the first voice.

"Kakashi?" asked Sasuke.

"And the second voice was a woman" added Sakura. Just then the two surfers rounded the bend, completely oblivious to the people in their path as Kurenai was still shocked and angry about Kakashi's comment. Sasuke and Sakura looked shocked at the two jounins that were wearing nothing more then their underwear.

"Kurenai Sensei?" shrieked Sakura which caused the red eyed kunoichi to lose her balance in shock and fall into the water, and just like that the wave vanished.

"Kakashi Sensei?" asked Sasuke, looking up at his teacher who had stopped just in front of him.

"Yo" smiled Kakashi happily. Then looked over to see a dripping wet Kurenai emerge and he burst into laughter. He was so busy laughing that he missed the look in her eyes and didn't realize she had moved until he was in the river with her.

Kakashi emerged to see an innocent looking kunoichi and his two laughing students. 'Wait a second' he thought. 'Sasuke's laughing?'

"Whoops" was all Kurenai said, causing Sakura and Sasuke to laugh even harder.

Kakashi glared at them before using his chakra to send a wave to drench them.

"Hey, no fair" exclaimed Sasuke before sending another wave back at him.

Kakashi simply dodged it, but in doing so stepped right into the one Kurenai had sent his way. He turned and glared at her as she giggled.

"What is this, gang up on the one eyed ninja day?" he joked. The others looked at each other and grinned.

"Actually" smiled Sasuke evilly.

"Yes" agreed Sakura as Kurenai nodded.

Kakashi's face fell and he only had time to screech a quick "HELP!" before he was submerged in water.

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"N…Naruto?" asked a shy voice from behind him.

He turned around to see Hinata standing there, shyly tapping her fingers.

"Hey Hinata" he grinned. "What's up?"

"H…Have you seen K…Kurenai S…Sensei anywhere?" she asked nervously. The boy was standing there without a top sunbathing and she was having a hard time concentrating. Besides, she really needed to find Kurenai.

"No, why would I…" began Naruto without thinking before he realized different. "Oh right, yeah, she appeared during training and then Kakashi dragged her off somewhere, why?"

"I kind of n…need to find her" she stammered.

"Well" thought Naruto getting up. "I think they went this way, come on" and so saying he grabbed Hinata's hand and pulled her in the direction he'd seen Kakashi drag Kurenai earlier.

As they neared the river they heard someone yelling.

"What was that?" asked Hinata.

"I don't know" admitted Naruto, straining to hear what was being said.

"**HELP**!" screamed the voice again. "**They're** **ganging up on me, I'm out numbered" **Naruto's eyes widened in realisation.

"That's Kakashi Sensei" he cried, taking off into a run in the direction of the sound. "Come on, lets hurry" he yelled at Hinata.

As soon as Naruto saw the scene in the river he stopped short. Hinata, wondering why he had stopped, looked over his shoulder and giggled.

"**Naruto**" called Kakashi urgently, trying to keep Sasuke and Sakura at bay whilst wriggling under Kurenai's tickling. "**Help me**!"

"Sure" grinned Naruto and took off his trousers before grinning at the others who quickly ducked under the water.

"Kage Bunshi no Jutsu" he yelled quickly. "**Bombs away**" he added before all 30 of his clones bombed into the river, thoroughly drenching Kakashi in the process.

"Thanks" he muttered sulkily as the others emerged laughing.

"Oh Kakashi" laughed Kurenai. "You should have seen your face"

"I prefer your one" he smiled sweetly before grabbing her and hoisting her into the air. He grinned as her face did contort into a picture of shock and horror.

"Put me down this instant Hatake" she screamed, she was still incredibly aware that she was only in her underwear, and she didn't like her student seeing her like this. She quickly disappeared using her genjutsu before reappearing behind him and slapping him upside his head.

Sasuke and Sakura laughed as Hinata giggled and Naruto just looked confused.

"Sasuke-teme, are you laughing?" he asked suddenly.  
"What does it look like you dobe?" he laughed.

"And Kakashi, your not wearing your mask?" he asked, turning to his sensei who was starting to colour slightly.

"I like it" soothed Kurenai as she whispered in his ear.

"And Kurenai Sensei" Naruto added, turning to the kunoichi as her face suddenly drained, wondering what embarrassing question Naruto held for her.

"Why are you only wearing your underwear?" he asked. "And are you and Kakashi sensei going out?" Kurenai's eyes widened. What the hell was she supposed to say to that? She wasn't used to Naruto's questioning.

"Well, um…" she started, cheeks as red as her eyes.

"Naruto" smiled Kakashi. "You're only wearing your underwear too"

Sasuke laughed suddenly.

"What are you laughing at now you teme?" asked Naruto as she whirled around to face Sasuke, he was almost in tears.

"You, you dobe" he laughed. "Look what I just found" and with that he held up what appeared to be a pair of boxers. Naruto went bright red as his eyes widened. 'They must have fallen off when I bombed in the river' he thought. The three girls also went red and quickly turned their backs on the boys.

"**Give them back**" yelled Naruto urgently.

"Um, no" smiled Sasuke as he threw them to Kakashi.

"Well they aren't mine" assured Kakashi with a raised eyebrow. "I don't like ramen that much" he smiled, tossing them back to Sasuke.

"**Sasuke**" wined Naruto. "**I swear if you don't give them back right now I'll pull yours off too**" Sakura's eyes widened but she fought the urge to look.

"Fine" sighed Sasuke as he tossed them back to Naruto he quickly put them on.

"Is it safe yet?" asked Kurenai quietly.

"Yeah" answered Kakashi as the girls turned around. "For now" he added silently to Kurenai who flushed.

"So are you two going out?" asked Naruto suddenly, attention back on the two jounin. "And why _are_ you in your underwear?"

"I think you spoke too soon" whispered Kurenai to Kakashi as she turned red.

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Ok guys, you know the drill by now. Please review and let me know what you think of the story so far. Or if you have any ideas or suggestions, I shall try my best to add them in.


	6. Capable Hands

Sakura, seeing the sensei's trouble decided to do her part and help out. She realized quickly that if either of them said the wrong thing, it could jeopardise their future relationship…and since Kakashi is known for messing things up…

"Hey Hinata" she called to the shy girl on the bank. "Are you wearing your swim suit?" she asked as Naruto turned his attention back to the girl he had come with and Kurenai breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

"Yes…why?" she uttered nervously.

"You going to stand there in the baking heat all day?" smiled Sakura.  
"Yes, come on Hinata, join us" encouraged Kurenai as she secretly batted Kakashi's hand away from her backside with a quick glare in his direction.

"Oh…um…ok" smiled Hinata as everyone turned around to give her some privacy. Once they heard the splash they assumed it was safe and turned around, Sakura was the first to spot Hinata's swimming costume, it was orange with yellow flowers. "Orange?" questioned Sakura with a sly smile.

Hinata just blushed.

"Well I like it" grinned Naruto. "At least somebody other then me is good with colours" causing Hinata to blush even more.

"Good with colours?" scoffed Sasuke. "I've seen you wear olive green with florescent pink before" he reminded Naruto.

"That was a one off and it was fancy dress" defended Naruto quickly.

"Sure" smiled Sasuke as he rolled his eyes.

"Wait, I remember what I was going to ask" smiled Naruto suddenly as he turned back to his sensei.

"Hey look" cried Sakura suddenly. "It's **Ino** **Pig**" she called rather loudly to get Ino's attention along with the rest of team 10.

"Hey forehead girl" smiled Ino back. "Having fun"

"Yup" grinned Sakura. "This is lovely and refreshing"

"**Hey**!" yelled Naruto again. "You keep interrupting me. Or are you all in on it?"  
"All in on what?" asked Asuma curiously.

"Are Kakashi Sensei and Kurenai Sensei going out?" he asked seriously.

Asuma laughed. "No" he laughed again, he honestly couldn't imagine it. Kurenai; the most sensible, law abiding person he'd ever met with Kakashi; the ninja with no respect for time and rules…how weird would that be!

"Then why are they in their underwear?" asked Naruto suddenly.

Asuma's face whipped around to look at Kurenai who was officially as red as her eyes at this point. Kakashi, noticing the leer Asuma was giving Kurenai, suddenly filled with Anger and moved in front of her to glare at him. Asuma was slightly surprised by Kakashi's reaction but he wasn't stupid enough to test it and turned back to Naruto.

"Then again" he grinned, thinking how Anko is going to LOVE this piece of gossip. "You never _truly_ know what Kakashi gets up to" he smirked. Kakashi stayed emotionless, just happy to know that Asuma wasn't trying to catch a peek at his Kurenai anymore… 'Wait' he thought to himself. '_My_ Kurenai, since when is she _mine_? I mean sure she's drop dead sexy, and her eyes and hair is gorgeous, not to mention her butt…' he looked behind him quickly to see her face flushed and looking everywhere except at him, Naruto and Asuma. 'Actually, she's absolutely adorable' he grinned to himself before tuning back to the conversation.

"You going to join us Ino pig?" he heard Sakura ask Ino.

"I don't have a costume on me" she sighed, Kakashi noticed, disappointedly.

"So, you heard Naruto" smiled Sakura. "All Kurenai is wearing is her underwear, along with Kakashi Sensei and Naruto. And it's no different then my bikini" she added. "Besides, the water will hide it anyway"

"Ok" she gave in as everyone turned around to give her some privacy.

Shikamaru turned slightly and noticed Choji crunching on crisps and watching, he glowered at him. Choji felt a pair of eyes glaring at him and when he realised who it was, he quickly turned around and shut his eyes as tightly as he could.

When they heard the splash, signaling that Ino was safely in the stream, they turned to watch her swim over to Sakura who whispered something to her.

"Hey Shika-kun" Ino called, turning towards him and batting her eyelashes. "Are you going to join us? It's really refreshing" she assured him.

Shikamaru muttered his usual "Troublesome girl" before stripping off his t-shirt, sandals and trousers before jumping in.

"Will you be joining us Asuma?" asked Kakashi emotionlessly.

"I promised Choji I'd buy him lunch" admitted Asuma with a sly smile. "So I'll leave my students in your capable hands Kakashi" he grinned before adding. "That is, if you can keep them off of Kurenai for long enough"

"Asuma" flushed Kurenai, annoyed at being talked of in such a manner in front of the students. She quickly moved the branch behind him to whack him over the head, knocking him forward slightly but not managing to remove the grin.

"What did you do that for Kurenai Sensei?" asked Naruto shocked.

Kakashi leaned backwards slightly so that only she could hear him.

"It's alight" he soothed. "They didn't hear a thing"

"What?" she asked him, confused.

"I realised what he was going to say before he said it" he replied gently.

"Was he being a pervert?" prompted Naruto again, causing Kurenai to realize he was waiting for an answer.

"Yes" was all she could manage to reply before turning back to Kakashi.

"Thank you" she smiled at Kakashi before turning back to Asuma. "Aren't you supposed to be going somewhere?" she asked curtly.

"Alright, I'm going" he grinned. "Have fun everyone" he said before he started off again with Choji towards the town and, more importantly, the food shops.

"Well" smiled Kakashi mischievously. "Lets welcome our new companions properly" and with that he created another water dragon as Sasuke copied.

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hey guys, thanks for all the wodnerful reviews. Please keep them coming, and as I'm sure you'll be able to guess the dirrection I'm going in now, any ideas would be much appreciated and I shall try and use as many as possible.**WindKutsuneofDeath** I am definitely going to write a date scene, I have a few funny (at least in my mind) ideas. But it might take a while. But I promise it's on its way! **Rina** I took your suggestion on board and have written a scene, not the bikini breaking, but your other suggestion. I hope you like and it's on it's way!**sakura-sasuke-together** I'm already a step ahead, Neji and Tenten will magically appear in the next chapter! **Cunning Angel** I totally agree, I imagine Sasuke's laugh would sound totally hot **Ghostboy814** thanks for noticing Naruto's jutsu, I'm going to try to involve more over the next few chapters, but I'm not too good at writting it so you noticing is appreciated!**AngelSeal **I'm glad you think so. I often wonder if it's only me who finds the balance right, so I'm glad you like. **Alucard180** yeah...the randomness just keeps continuing!

And to everyone else whose taken the trouble to review, thank you all sooooo much. It's take me too long to write comments for everyone - alright i would, but I really wouldn't know what to say except thank you and I'm glad your enjoying it. Love you all. please keep reviewing and I promise to keep updating. Nessiexxx


	7. Power of Youth

This is dedicated to **AngelSeal** and **sakura-sasuke-together** as they wanted me to add Neji and Tenten (not that I wasn't going to anyway but since you reviewed...). To all of you who also reviewed, thank you so much and make sure you continue to. Furthermore, I know your all probably waiting for the really fluffy romantic scenes... I promise you they are coming. You've just gotta be patient. Anyway, on with the story!

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"Well" smiled Kakashi mischievously. "Lets welcome our new companions properly" and with that he created another water dragon as Sasuke copied.

Ino screeched and moved behind Shikamaru and clung to him.

"How troublesome" muttered Shikamaru, but everyone could see that he was smiling. Just then the dragons were destroyed by Naruto who had decided that this was boring and decided to take matters into his own hands. Whilst everyone was watching the dragons, Naruto had gotten out of the river and created his clones, then they cannon bowled into the water, smashing the dragons along the way.

"Naruto" screeched Sakura and Ino simultaneously as they were dowsed in water.

"What?" he asked innocently.

"Um, what are these?" asked Shikamaru suddenly, holding up Naruto's boxers from earlier. Naruto paled.

"Oh man" he sighed. "Not again" he moaned.

"I take it these are yours then" asked Shikamaru, his eyebrow raised, as he watched everyone scurry away from Naruto. He flung the boxers back at the embarrassed boy.

"Ah ha" cried Gai as he suddenly leapt out of a bush, Lee right beside him as Neji and Tenten just calmly walked out. "I knew I could hear the sound of youthfulness coming from here" he cried.

"Yes Gai Sensei, you were absolutely right" cried Lee in return.

"Lee" cried Gai, turning to his favourite pupil.

"Sensei" cried Lee in return.

"Lee"

"Sensei"

"Lee"

"Sensei"

"As touching as this is" smiled Kakashi emotionlessly. "Was there a reason you came running over here?"

"Gai Sensei said we weren't in touch with the power of youth enough" sighed Tenten. "So he dragged us over here to join in"

"Ah, my rival Kakashi" yelled Gai upon noticing the silver haired ninja. "I challenge you to a duel"

"On one condition" agreed Kakashi.

"Anything, I will not back down or I shall have to do 5000 pushups and if I don't do that I will do 10000 punches and if I don't do that…"

"Yeah alright" interrupted Kakashi. "The deal is I get to choose what we duel at"

"Accepted, there is nothing you could suggest that I will decline" he swore.

"Ok, whoever manages to hypnotise the other person first wins" smiled Kakashi.

"Ok" accepted Gai. "And I shall win or I will have to…" but before he could go into a list about what he would do, Kakashi activated the sharingan and Gai couldn't help but watch the tomoe swirl as he became hypnotised.

"Gai" he called as all the genin (minus Lee) snickered. "You want to go back to your training camp and train with Lee"

He broke the connection and Gai shot up.

"Lee" he called. "Let us go back to the training grounds and train"

"But Gai Sensei" asked Lee. "What about the battle with Kakashi"

"Oh yes" agreed Gai. "I must hypnotise you first"

"Um Gai" smiled Kakashi. "Why do you think you want to go train Lee?"

"Gomen Sensei" cried Lee, face drooped.

"Come on Lee, we must train harder so that I may defeat my rival and you may beat yours" and so saying they turned and ran back to the training grounds, all the while yelled out the others name.

"Well that was weird" thought Naruto.

"Ahayo Tenten" smiled Ino. "Are you going to join us?"

"Sure, why not. It's too hot to train anyway" she replied as everyone turned around once more to give Tenten some privacy, used to this ritual by now. Everyone, that is, except Neji who wasn't really paying attention and wasn't sure what was going on. However he quickly caught up as he watched Tenten pull her top over her head and drop her trousers. Unlike Ino who was left in a crop top, Tenten was standing there in a baby pink bra and Neji couldn't help let his jaw drop at the sight. He quickly turned away and tried to prevent the upcoming nosebleed. 'Pull yourself together; he urged himself. 'She's your teammate. You're not supposed to think of her this way'

Tenten dived into the river which caused everyone to turn around figuring it was safe. She swam over to Ino and Sakura who giggled and whispered something that caused Tenten to blush before turning to Neji.

"You're not going to train in this heat are you Neji-kun?" she asked, pouting slightly. Neji fought the grin that was threatening to appear from seeing her pout.

"Hn" was his only reply, but she grinned as she watched him take off his top and the rest of his stuff before joining them.

"Hey, this isn't some sort of training exercise is it?" asked Tenten suddenly as she looked at the two sensei's who were off to one side, watching the youngsters with interest. Kurenai thought about it, she supposed it could be classed as training since everyone was using their jutsu's during the water fight…

"No" grinned Sakura. "Sasuke asked me to come swimming, and during a water fight Kakashi-Sensei and Kurenai-Sensei came riding along having a surfing race or something. Then Naruto and Hinata showed up…I'm not sure why. And Team 10 were walking past so we invited Ino and Shikamaru, then you guys showed up"

"Ok" smiled Tenten, slightly confused by it all.

"Hey!" screeched Ino suddenly. "Sasuke-kun asked YOU swimming?" This gathered everyone's attention, especially the jounins who shared a knowing look.

"Oh calm down Ino Pig" replied Sakura as Sasuke hid his extremely slight blush. "We all know that you're into Shikamaru now anyway" she grinned.

"_What_?" shrieked Ino loudly. "I **SO** am **_NOT_**"

"Oh really?" asked Sakura smartly. "Then why did you call him Shika-kun?"

"Well Tenten called Neji Neji-kun" defended Ino as Tenten blushed.

"That's not a very good example" smiled Sakura. "Tenten likes Neji too"

"I do _not_" said Tenten a little too quickly.

Kakashi and Kurenai shared a look.

"Sure you don't" grinned Sakura. "The same way I don't like Sasuke, and Kurenai doesn't like Kakashi" earning a snort from said man.

"Hey" defended Kurenai. "You should have more respect for your senseis" she demanded as she continued to colour. "And for your information, I _DON'T_ like Kakashi" she turned to the man next to her in time to see him pout.

"Really? That's not what you said…"

"If you finish that perverted sentence I _SWEAR_ you will _never_ be able to father children" she said quickly to shut him up as the Sasuke and Neji winced whilst the others laughed.

"Alright, alright" he sighed in defeat to calm her down. "Gomen, and Sakura" he smiled, turning to his female student. "Catch" he smiled, just as massive wave came down on her.

"Hey" yelled Sasuke. "Only I'm allowed to do that" and so saying he created a wave and sent it towards his teacher. However, Kakashi was expecting it, and within the blink of an eye, it hit Naruto.

"**SASUKE-TEME**" he cried out in surprise.

"It was Kakashi you dobe" replied Sasuke before Naruto sent a wave this way. Sasuke however had used his Sharingan to copy the move Kakashi made and the wave hit Neji.

"**NARUTO**" he yelled just before Kakashi yelled;

"**_WATER FIGHT_**" and all hell broke loose.

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Don't forget to R&R


	8. Water Fight

Hinata hid behind Naruto who had created his clones again and was using them as a fortress and catapults. Ino was screaming about her hair and hid behind Shikamaru who was trying to control the water through his shadow movement but wasn't succeeding as of yet. Neji was using his chakra to mold the water into weapons which Tenten was then throwing at everyone. Sasuke and Sakura were working together to get people with surprise attacks so whilst they were concentrating on Sasuke, Sakura was hitting them from behind. And Kakashi and Kurenai appeared to be working together in order to keep everyone thoroughly drenched.

In actual fact, Kakashi had created water clones for the both of them and they were currently hidden in Kurenai's illusion mist, watching the skills the genin were portraying. Well, at least Kurenai was, Kakashi was more interested in trying to feel Kurenai up without her noticing…which despite being one of the most talented ninja's around, he hadn't managed to succeed at as of yet.

"Shika, do **_something_**" screeched Ino as she was hit by one of Tenten's water weapons. Her hair was officially ruined and she was getting annoyed.

"What do you want me to do?" he asked, dodging his own attack from Tenten. "I can't control them all you know"

"Well, do _SOMETHING_" she screeched as she got hit by Sakura this time.

"How troublesome" muttered Shikamaru as he flung a wall of water at Naruto.

Tenten was concentrating on thinning out all of Naruto's clones as Neji watched her back whilst still creating the weapons. He watched her as she flung the weapons with precise accuracy 'she truly is a weapons mistress' he thought with pride. He just narrowly missed a wave conjured by Sasuke. 'Keep focused Neji' he reprimanded yourself. 'Now is not the time to daydream about your teammate'

"Neji" called Tenten as she ran out of weapons to throw, wondering what was keeping him.

"Hn" he muttered as a way of apology before handing her another whilst using his Byakugan to keep a look out for attacks.

"Naruto, to your left" called Hinata as Naruto dodged the weapon and grinned at her. Since Hinata realized that he never watched for oncoming attacks she had taken it upon herself to point out where they were.

"Naruto duck!" she called, causing him to narrowly miss another one.

"You're a star Hinata" he grinned at her. 'Naruto called me a star' she thought but was immediately pulled out of her thought as said boy was knocked down by Sakura's wave.

"Naruto" she called quickly. "Gomen"

"It's ok" he grinned. "A little water won't stop me"

"Naruto, left" she called quickly, causing him to narrowly miss another of Tenten's attacks. 'That boy will never learn' she giggled.

Sasuke and Sakura were doing quite well. Their only real competition was Neji and Tenten and Sasuke suddenly thought up a way to change that.

"Hey Sakura" he called before leaning close and whispering his idea.

After getting her approval he created a water dragon and sent it at Neji and Tenten. Neji quickly used his Byakugan to spot the dragon's week spot and made a water shuriken for Tenten.

"Aim it between his eyes" he told Tenten whilst passing her the shuriken. Tenten nodded and launched the shuriken, as always it hit its target spot on. As the dragon burst back into water, they didn't expect Sakura to jump out from within it and create a wave that drenched them.

"Not bad" grinned Sasuke before he realised he couldn't move. Activating his Sharingan he realized he was under a shadow imitation technique.

Sakura, noticing that Sasuke had activated his sharingan and wasn't moving turned to him. "What's wrong Sasuke-kun?" she asked.

"Shikamaru is using his shadow jutsu on me" he replied before moving to hit her. She dodged and looked over to see Shikamaru and Ino laughing and waving, and sure enough, Sasuke waved too.  
"What shall I do?" she asked.

"Send a wave towards Shikamaru" he replied thoughtfully. "Hopefully it will shake his concentration and cause him to drop the jutsu" She nodded and did as she was told, but whilst doing this she missed Ino perform her mind transfer jutsu just before the wave hit them.

"Atta girl Sakura" smiled Ino in Sasuke's body, unconsciously repeating what Shikamaru says after using her mind transfer jutsu. "But you forgot about me"

"Sasuke?" asked Sakura just as he pushed her under the water. Ino quickly left his body so that Sasuke was left with a furious Sakura.

"SASUKE" she screeched.

"It wasn't me" he begged. "It was Ino"

"YEAH RIGHT. SHE WAS WIPED OUT BY THAT WAVE"

"But…" he started right before she dunked him back.

Ino and Shikamaru laughed at the display before trying it again on Neji and Tenten, and just like before, Tenten got furious with Neji.

Whilst performing his jutsu, Shikamaru missed Naruto creeping up behind him until he was slammed over the head.

"HEY" he yelled. "I thought this was a water fight"

"You're not exactly fighting with water" argued Naruto, flicking his thumb in poor Sasuke and Neji's direction who were currently trying to stay alive.

"WHAT THE _HELL_ DID YOU DO TO SHIKA-KUN YOU LOSER?" screeched Ino as she noticed the lump on Shikamaru's head.

"Um…" muttered Naruto. "It was an accident?" he tried.

"**_ACCIDENT_**" she screeched. "I'LL GIVE **YOU** AN _ACCIDENT_" and with that she took off after him.

Meanwhile, Kurenai was starting to get worried.

"Come on Kurenai, lighten up" smiled Kakashi, once again trying to feel her behind. "They'll be fine"

"_Fine_?" she asked as she smacked his hand away from her and glared at him. "Kakashi, we're supposed to be the _adults_ here, we have to protect them. I mean look at poor Sasuke and Neji, they're going to get _SLAUGHTERED_" Kakashi looked over at his student; he almost laughed but thought better of it.

"Sakura would never kill Sasuke" he assured her. "She loves him too much"

"Be that as it may" she agreed. "We should still be looking out for them"

"But what about us?" he pouted. "When do we get to play?"

"When they're safe and sound and tucked up in bed" she said before sighing. "We can't just stand here and watch them get killed, we are responsible for them Kakashi" she argued as he grinned.

"I could blindfold you if it makes you happier" he smiled kindly, although all you could see in his eyes was mischief.

"Kakashi" she growled at him. "You carry on this way and you won't be getting any at all ever again"

"Fine, fine" he sighed in defeat. Kurenai smiled sweetly, and brought down her mist illusion jutsu and Kakashi dispersed of their clones. Next he turned to the yelling teenagers and separated them all whilst Kurenai used her genjutsu to give them the illusion that they had barriers inbetween them. Of course, Sasuke, Neji and Hinata could see through this but were thankful that it stopped the girls from beating them.

"Alright" smiled Kurenai. "As fun as that was, we feel that it is safer if we stop this here. Furthermore, Kakashi would like to apolagise to Sakura and Tenten for making Sasuke and Neji dunk them and to Ino for giving Shikamaru that bump on the head" she continued to smile sweetly as Sakura, Ino and Tenten turned their murderous glares on Kakashi. "Oh" she continued. "And also for taking photos of all the girls with an underwater camera"

"**_KURENAI_**" he shrieked as all the boys turned on him. "NONE OF THAT'S _TRUE_"

"You can thank your wandering hands for that" she smiled before she used her genjutsu to disappear, taking away the barriers as she did.

"**_KURENAI_**" he screamed again as they all charged him. He only just had time to create his water encampment wall before they hit. "You're lucky you're so hot" he muttered as Kurenai smiled from her place, happily watching.

---------------------------

Thanks for all the reviews, please keep them coming.


	9. A sudden twist

Hey guys, guess it's wednesday again. And this time I have the day of college, WOO! So in celebration I have decided to post an extra long chapter, so don't forget to thank me at the end ; )! (BTW, if you didn't review the last chapter, a - shame on you and b - u may want to skim over the next part!)

As for my reviewers, I would just like to say, A - ARIGATOU, I love you all! and also I decided it was time I answered them again, so if u did review, i love you!, and scan down to ur name.

**SoundCloud** - I completely agree, Shikamaru and Ino do make such a good team. I really liked it during the 2nd chunin exam after she's used the mind transfer technique and he goes "Good to have you back" and during the 3rd prelims when he gets really worried because "She's only supposed to do that technique when i'm there to look after her". Hehe, so cute! Glad your enjoying the story.

**Nessie** - I'm not really sure how to fit Gaara in there yet...but if I ever find a way, I'll be sure to get him in! Glad you luv it so much.

**Chinksta** - Your right. Kakashi is too adorable to be punished...but he does need someone to keep him in place, and I think that's Kurenai!

**almostinsane** - thanks for the review as usual. I'm glad you're still enjoying it.

**SasukeandNejicuties** - Glad you love the story that much! It's making me blush!

**Ninjax5000** - thanks for the review, no matter how short. I'm glad u like the story.

**Cunning Angel** - I completely agree. I think water fights would be WAY more fun if we could actually use ninja techniques in them! But alas, reality sucks...which is why we have fanfiction!

**Ghostboy814** - Glad u think it's funny, I sometimes wonder if it's only me. I like romantic comedies, it's the only sort i write really. Life's too serious, you've got to have some fun, right?!

**Alucard180** - I must say, i totally loved your review. You completely right about the whole understanding part. It's why I think they go so well together. Also, I promise we are getting to the serious KakaKure stuff, you'll just have to be a wee bit more patient! I promise it's coming!

Anyway, and now, on with the story, here's a recap for all you peeps with bad memories!;

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"Alright" smiled Kurenai. "As fun as that was, we feel that it is safer if we stop this here. Furthermore, Kakashi would like to apolagise to Sakura and Tenten for making Sasuke and Neji dunk them and to Ino for giving Shikamaru that bump on the head" she continued to smile sweetly as Sakura, Ino and Tenten turned their murderous glares on Kakashi. "Oh" she continued. "And also for taking photos of all the girls with an underwater camera"

"**_KURENAI_**" he shrieked as all the boys turned on him. "NONE OF THAT'S _TRUE_"

"You can thank your wandering hands for that" she smiled before she used her genjutsu to disappear, taking away the barriers as she did.

"**_KURENAI_**" he screamed again as they all charged him. He only just had time to create his water encampment wall before they hit. "You're lucky you're so hot" he muttered as Kurenai smiled from her place, happily watching.

---------

She wanted to teach the students a valuable lesson (and it didn't hurt that Kakashi was the punching bag they learnt with), she wanted to teach them how to cooperate. It was obvious from the little display earlier that they were able to do this in pairs, but it was obvious now that it stopped there.

Sakura and Ino were slamming the wall with their fists whilst Tenten was throwing as many weapons as she could at the wall. Neji was looking for weak spots whilst Sasuke was using his newfound (copied) water dragon technique to try and attack the wall. Shikamaru was trying to get his shadow through the wall and Naruto had created 20 odd clones to charge at it. And Hinata, she was standing back watching them, trying not to get in anybodies way.

"This gives me an idea" whispered Kurenai as she accesses her genjutsu.

She showed the genin illusions of their techniques…the result was discouraging. Naruto's clones were crashing through Sasuke's dragon before being ripped apart by either Tenten's water kunai or Ino and Sakura's punches. And Shikamaru's shadow kept getting caught on one of the girls' as well causing major confusion and a lot of annoyed ninjas.

"Guys" called Sasuke eventually. "If we want to kick the shit out of him then we're going to have to work together"

"Sasuke's right" admitted Neji. "We're not getting anywhere on our own"

"I'm doing fine on my own" argued Naruto.

"Naruto, all your doing is wrecking Sasuke's dragon and getting your clones slaughtered by running in front of Ino, Tenten and I" pointed out Sakura,

"Yeah, alright Sasuke-teme" agreed Naruto. "So what's the plan?"

Sasuke sweat dropped, he hadn't thought of one.

"Um…Neji-nisan" said Hinata quietly. "I...I… think I…I… found s…some week s…spots" Neji looked at her, then back at Kakashi to double check that he hadn't missed one.

"Where?" he asked

"It only w…works if we a…attack from four s…sides" she muttered.

"THAT'S BRILLIANT HINATA" yelled Naruto excitedly. He was just about to run off when Sasuke grabbed him.

"Wait you dobe" he said. "Let's do this properly alright, because Kakashi isn't going to just sit there once we get through"

"He is if I can get in quick" smirked Shikamaru

"Exactly" agreed Sasuke. "So we gotta be prepared"

"Right" agreed Sakura. "But there's a possibility that Kakashi will be able to get out of Shikamaru's jutsu, so we've got to get in there quick"

"Ino" asked Sasuke. "If we were able to give you some form of rope, would you be able to use your chakra to strengthen it?" he asked.

"Hai" she assured.

"Naruto…" started Sasuke, but he was ahead of him.

"Got it, I'll transform one of my clones into some rope once we break through"  
"Ok" grinned Neji. "So Hinata and I shall take the north side, Sasuke and Sakura the south, Tenten and Shikamaru the west and Naruto, you and Ino take the east"

"Right" they all chorused before running into position.

Kakashi, realising what they were doing, was about to transform when he felt something pinch his behind.

"Hey" he cried as he whipped around and using his sharingan noticed Kurenai there. "This is all _your_ fault" he cried. "Make them stop"

"Can't you see Kakashi" she smiled. "They're finally all working together"

"At my expense" he grumbled.

"Oh don't worry. I'll stop them before they do too much damage"

He was about to make a snide comment back when she kissed him and disappeared. He stood slightly dazed before realising that his wall of water had just gotten demolished. He went to create some seals but found he couldn't move his arms. Before he could even blink Ino and Sakura were tying him up with rope.

"Well done" smiled Kurenai, finally appearing. "I didn't think you'd manage it"

"Thanks for the help" grinned Sasuke who had seen her little show inside the bubble before they managed to get through. The others looked on in confusion as Kurenai blushed and quietened.

"What's he talking about?" asked Naruto. Sasuke just rolled his eyes.

"So…" smiled Sasuke evilly. "Underwater camera hey?" he cracked his knuckles before smacking Kakashi, and just like that, all hell broke loose.

Kurenai, meanwhile, just grinned and backed away slowly. If anyone had been watching her they would have seen her apparently vanish. But as it was, they were all much too involved with beating up Kakashi to notice Kurenai disappear into her illusion mist.  
"Was that really necessary?" asked Kakashi, laid back on the bank and wincing as he watched Sakura deliver his clone a particularly hard punch.

"I had to get them to discover team work someway" smiled Kurenai lazily as she took a spot next to Kakashi. "And like I said before, you can thank your wandering hands for that"

"Yes but my wandering hands are your fault" he argued. "Besides, did you _really_ need to kiss my clone? I felt all left out"

"Don't you think that Sasuke or Neji would have noticed you were a clone? I had to do that to throw them off and prevent them from realising the truth"

"But they're going to figure it out eventually" he argued.

"You can go and substitute yourself back in if you wish" she smiled, gesturing towards his clone and the angry mob.

"I think I'll just stay here and keep you company" he smiled kindly.

"Sure you will" she smiled, rolling her eyes.

"So what about my kiss?" he asked suddenly, turning towards her.

"What about it?" she asked lazily.

"Well you can't go around kissing clones of me, I'll feel left out" he pouted. She looked over and couldn't help but smile a little at his cute expression.

"Kakashi" she sighed. "I'd love to, but I think you should be watching said clone"

"Huh?" was all he said just as he heard Sakura scream

"**SASUKE, ARE YOU _MAD_? I KNOW WHAT HE DID WAS WRONG BUT YOU CAN'T _KILL_ HIM"**

Kakashi looked up and saw Sasuke stick a kunai in his clone and watched as it dissolved to water. He sighed and followed Kurenai out of her illusion mist. He smirked as the 8 genin whipped their faces around to see him.

"Her idea, not mine" he defended, holding his hands up.

"Real smooth Hatake" grinned Kurenai before turning to the students. "Gomen guys but I wanted to see if you could all work together"

"So this _WAS_ training" asked Tenten.

"Well…sort of" admitted Kurenai. "But fun none the less" she smiled.

"Speak for yourself" grumbled Kakashi as he felt the stares of his students.

"It was kind of fun" giggled Sakura. "Especially when Sasuke got hit by that water kunai and he was sure he was going to die"

"Nani?" screeched Sasuke turning towards her.

"You should have seen Kakashi, he was terrified I was actually going to let you beat him up" giggled Kurenai as Kakashi turned to glare at her.

"I think you'd better start swimming now" threatened Kakashi.

"Before we get a chance at pay back" added Sasuke as Sakura and Kurenai laughed and started off down the river with Kakashi and Sasuke hot on their tails.

"You'd think they couldn't take embarrassment" smiled Kurenai, still swimming as fast as she could to escape from Kakashi.

"I heard that" replied Kakashi, starting to close in on her.

"At least Kakashi isn't afraid of his feelings" giggled Sakura as Sasuke growled.

"You'd better hope I don't catch up with you" yelled Sasuke.

Just then Kurenai yelped as Kakashi grabbed hold of her foot and tugged her backwards.

"Spoil sport" smiled Kurenai just before Kakashi started tickling.

"Oh yeah?" he asked. "Well how do you like this?" Kurenai was laughing so hard it hurt. She started begging him to stop when all of a sudden they heard a scream.

"**SAKURA**" they heard Sasuke yell. They turned and suddenly realized they were at the top of a waterfall, in all the excitement they had completely missed it. Kurenai quickly realized the scream they heard was Sakura as she went over the edge. Kakashi however had gotten to the conclusion a little earlier.

"**Sasuke**" he called, standing on the bank. "**Catch**" he yelled, throwing him a vine right before Sasuke dove over the edge to get Sakura.

"**Kurenai**" added Kakashi as she poofed next to him. "Hold this" She took it quickly before he disappeared again.

Meanwhile Sakura was screaming as she hurtled down towards the bottom. She felt someone grab her hand and looked to see Sasuke next to her. She grabbed hold of him and buried her face in his jumper.

"I'm scared" she cried as their descent slowed thanks to Kurenai holding the other end of Sasuke's rope. But they didn't stop.

"It's going to be alright" he soothed right as Kakashi appeared next to them.

"Hold On" he ordered Sasuke seeing as Sakura was in no state to understand instructions. Sasuke did as told and Kakashi transported them onto the bank of the river back at the top of the falls. Sasuke looked down at the quivering girl still clinging tightly to his chest.

"It's ok" he soothed, stroking her hair. "We're safe"

Sakura stopped shaking but continued to sob uncontrollably.

Kakashi smiled at his pupils before looking around for Kurenai and realising she wasn't there. Not being able to see the vine either he got extremely worried and headed for the waterfall.

"Now don't do anything stupid" muttered a voice behind him as he whipped around to see Kurenai standing there smirking.

"Kurenai" whispered Kakashi right before he grabbed her head and pulled her in for a long kiss. He pulled back to allow them to breath but wouldn't let go of her hands. "I was so worried" he added.

"Kakashi" she chided, not sure whether to feel flattered or inadequate. "You seem to be forgetting that I'm a jounin too"

"I know" he smiled. "But I've already lost so many people that I…" He stopped. 'I don't love Kurenai' he chided himself. "Care about. I'm not about to lose another" he continued, trying to make it seem flawless and believing his almost mistake to just be a result of the stress and relief.

'He was going to say something else, I'm sure of it' thought Kurenai as she allowed him to hug her. 'I wonder what, it's almost as if…no' she scolded herself. 'Don't be so silly, your letting your mind run away with you. You hardly know the man; he's your friend and nothing more'

Sasuke smiled as he walked up to the hugging jounins, Sakura safely in his arms.

"I'm going to take her home" he informed them.

"Her parents are away at the moment" Kakashi told Sasuke, watching as Sakura's head shot up and looked at Sasuke.

"Don't leave me alone" she pleaded quietly.

"Never" he agreed before smiling at the Jounins and turning back towards town.

"I guess we should get going too" Kakashi smiled down at the woman he had his arm around.

"We'd better let the others know not to wait for them first" she added. 'Practical as ever' thought Kakashi as he smiled. 'That's my Kurenai'

--------------------

Right, as you may have guessed, we're coming to the end of the group activities...(awww). But, that means the start of all the proper fluff! (yay!) I'll admit, it's not all fluff at once, but it is scenes between each of our fav couples. So, I've decided to be nice. I shall let u choose the order in which I post them (to an extent!). For all you Neji and Tenten fans...I haven't actually written their yet, my immagination is failing me...but on the plus side, this is where you get to give me all your ideas and see them come to life! So anyway, here are your options;

Embarrasment fun with Naruto & Hinata at Ichiraku Ramen Bar

Tree climbing fun with Shikamaru & Ino

Neji and Tenten ??? A suprise!

Kakashi & Kurenai which involves a shy Kakashi...what, shy Kakashi? never!

And last but not least, Sakura and Sasuke with a t-shirt and a bed... NO, not like THAT you perverts!

Anyway, tell me which you want first! And I shall be posting more on wednesday, so check in then!

Nessiexxx

PS - I haven't completed this yet, so if you have any ideas, feel free to give them and I'll try my best to make them happen!


	10. Sasuke & Sakura

Well, the votes are in and it's Sasuke and Sakura to go first aparrently! Hope you all enjoy. Also, thanks to everyone whose reviewed and all of you who have left suggestions. I want to appolagise to all of you who wanted me to include the sand siblings, but I'm really not sure how to add them in at the mo. If I find a way I''l let you know though! Anyway, let me know what you think.

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After convincing Ino (which took five attempts) that Sakura was safe and with Sasuke, Kakashi and Kurenai departed to gather their clothes.

"Poor Sakura" worried Ino. "Do you think I should go see her?"

"You heard what Kurenai sensei said" smiled Tenten reassuringly. "She's with Sasuke; she's going to be just fine"

"T…Tenten's right" agreed Hinata.

"Yeah, she'll wake up tomorrow, see Sasuke, and she'll be in heaven" Tenten added. "The worst thing you could do right now is to go over there and take that away" Ino giggled, imaging how giggly Sakura will be tomorrow.

"I guess your right" agreed Ino. "So what do you guys want to do now?"

"Well, I don't know about you guys" grinned Naruto. "But I'm _STARVING_"

"Newsflash" called Neji sarcastically. "Naruto is _starving_"

"You're _always_ starving" agreed Tenten

"You don't have to come" argued Naruto stubbornly.

"Oh don't worry" smiled Tenten.  
"We won't" added Ino as Naruto's face fell.

"Hinata" he called, turning to the shy girl. "You'll come with me won't you?"

"O…of course N…Naruto-kun" she assured, pushing her fingers together shyly.

"**_YATTA_**" yelled Naruto. "Come on Hinata, let's go"

And with that he dragged the shy girl out of the river, quickly pulled on his clothes and was off at breakneck speed towards the Ichiraku Ramen Bar with Hinata in tow. "Have fun Hinata-chan" Tenten called to the retreating girl as Ino giggled.

"Don't they make such an odd couple?" giggled Ino.

"Naruto and Hinata?" asked Shikamaru in disbelief

"And your supposed to be the smart one" laughed Ino.

"How troublesome" moaned Shikamaru as he rolled his eyes. "Come on" he added, gesturing for Ino to follow him out of the river.

"Where are we going?" she asked as he gathered up their clothes

"You'll see" he smirked before starting off into the woods.

"ARGH" yelled Ino as she realized he'd just run off with her clothes, she quickly got out of the river and chased after him yelling. **"Shikamaru, you are SOOO dead when I catch up to you" **

"Well" started Tenten carefully. "That was weird"

"Hn" agreed Neji in his own way.  
"So what do you want to do now?" she asked, trying to coax a longer answer from him. She sighed as she saw the glint in his eye.

"Tenten…" he said slyly.

"Your going to suggest training, aren't you?" she sighed.

"Don't worry" he replied with a mischievous glint in his eye. "I promise it will be…" he broke off, trying to find the right word. "Entertaining" he was about to grin, but he was Neji, he didn't grin, so he settled on an evil but cool smirk instead. Tenten rolled her eyes but swam over to the bank to put her clothes back on.

"What do you think your doing?" smirked Neji.

"Getting ready for training?" she asked moodily. Not yet out of the water.

"Who said we needed to get dressed in order to train?" he asked before quickly getting out of the river and gathering up the clothes.  
"Come on" he called back to her as he started walking downstream. Tenten looked skeptical but did as he said as she got out of the river and followed Neji wearily. Neji, meanwhile, was trying to ignore the fact that he had Tenten's clothes in his arms and that his team mate was following him in nothing more then her undies. He mentally hit himself for picturing the way she looked earlier as she stripped. It was enough to give him a nose bleed, one he really didn't want Tenten to see. 'Maybe this wasn't such a bright idea after all'

----------------------------

Sasuke carefully opened the door to the Uchiha mansion and stepped inside. Due to the high levels of stress Sakura had received today, not to mention her depletion of chakra due to the water fights, she was partially asleep. Sasuke smiled down at her as he walked quietly to his room and laid her on the bed. Sakura stirred and immediately reached for Sasuke.

"Shhh" he soothed. "I'm here"

Sakura blinked in the dim light as her surroundings adjusted and she realized she didn't know where she was. Sleep was slowing her mind so she turned to Sasuke.

"Where am I?" she asked quietly.

"My room" he answered. Sakura took in this information and analysed it. 'Makes sense' she reasoned. 'And mum and dad are away anyway' She suddenly realized she was laying on something soft. She felt beneath her and realized it was a bed…to be more precise, Sasuke's bed. She quickly sat up only to be met with resistance.

Sasuke had seen her inner battle and knew what the conclusion had been.

"It's ok" he said again. Sakura was about to object when a cold breeze enveloped her and she shivered. Sasuke noticed and realized she was still in her bikini.

He quickly went over and pulled out a t-shirt from his drawer. "Here" he said, handing the t-shirt to her. "You should change into something dry before you catch a cold"

Again, Sakura was about to object when she sneezed. Sasuke looked at her with a raised eye and smiled. "Bathrooms through there, and you'll find towels in the closet inside" Sakura just nodded meekly before doing as she was told and walking into the bathroom.

She appeared later to see that Sasuke had also changed into a pair of sweats and a top. Sasuke looked up to see Sakura appear wearing only his top and gulped. He _really_ regretted not giving her some shorts as even though the shirt reached mid thigh and concealed everything, it was still extremely _HOT_!

"Are you alright Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked. "You look all flushed, have you caught a cold?" Sasuke smiled slightly, 'always thinking of others, that's Sakura for you' then she sneezed and he got serious again.

"Right, you can have the bed. I'll be sleeping on the floor right there if you need me" he said whilst going into a cupboard for some blankets.

"Sasuke-kun, it's your bed. I can sleep on the floor, I don't mind"

"You've got a cold; I don't want it getting worse"

"But Sasuke…"

"Just do what your told for once will you" His glare would have frozen fire had he not ruined it by sneezing.

"And what about you?" she asked skeptically. "Seems like you've got a cold as well. I'm not having you sleeping on the floor"

"You're annoying" sighed Sasuke as he gave in, causing Sakura to grin.

She turned around and started to climb into the double bed whilst Sasuke couldn't help but see the Uchiha emblem on her back, causing him to grin.

"You coming?" asked Sakura as she moved over as far as she could to give him plenty of space. 'If this was the old Sakura, she would have given me as little space as possible' Sasuke thought to himself as he joined her.

As soon as Sakura's head touched the pillow she was out and Sasuke could only smile at his pink haired angel. 'Where did that come from?' he asked himself. 'I feel all weird. What the hell is this feeling?' he quickly realized that despite being a genius, he wasn't going to be able to figure it out on his own so he settled on asking one of the jounin tomorrow.

Sakura rolled over in her sleep and bumped into Sasuke, causing strands of her hair to fall into her face and Sasuke smiled as she started scrunching her nose as the hair tickled it. Not wanting her to wake up, Sasuke carefully used his finger to move the hair out of her face and behind her ear. She sighed contentedly in her sleep and snuggled closer to him.

"Naruto" she mumbled in her sleep causing Sasuke to freeze and a bolt of something foreign to travel through him, making him want to kill said blonde.

"You're annoying" she murmured again causing Sasuke to release air he hadn't realized he'd been holding. He protectively put his arm around her and closed his eyes in preparation for sleep. 'That's right Naruto, she's all mine' were his last thoughts before sleep finally claimed him.


	11. Shy Kakashi?

Here you go, this one if for all of you who wanted the Kurenai and Kakashi part. Thanks for all the wonderful views, they're amazing. I love you all! Anyway, we've still got Naruto&Hinata, Ino&Shikamaru and Neji&Tenten to go so... which do you want next? Let me know! Nessiexxx

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"Well…" began Kurenai as she appeared next to her clothes. "This has been one interesting day" she grinned, glancing over at the man next to her.

"Who said it was over?" he grinned with a playful glint in his eye. "You still owe me a kiss" Kurenai rolled her eyes.

"Now, remind me why that is again"

"Because you can't go around kissing clones of me and not expect me to feel put out" he replied seriously. "I feel cheated"

"I should have just let you perish" she muttered. "Less hassle"

"But they could have damaged this beautiful face" he smirked.

"Don't push it" she grinned in return but regretted it as soon as she saw that 'oh really' look on Kakashi's face and knew he was planning something.

All off a sudden he set off towards her, picked her up and jumped into the river with her.

"_Kakashi_" she screeched. "What are you…" then she stopped as she noticed that his face was mere centimeters away from her own. He was so close that she could feel his warm breathe against her lips and her eyes flickered up to gaze into his. He started leaning forward as Kurenai closed her eyes reflexively and waited for the kiss. Only his mouth suddenly dived to the left and instead ended by her ear.

"You still think that?" he whispered smugly, causing Kurenai's eyes to snap open and her arm to move towards his stomach where his hand caught it.

"You know I'm only messing with you" he smirked. She was just about to thump him again when another idea came over her. Instead, she uncurled her fists and placed her hands on his chest where her fingers danced over his firm abs whilst she buried her head against his neck. Kakashi's eyes widened and his breathing became labored as the pleasure slowly crept through his body. Kurenai hid the smirk as she felt him stiffen and moved her head towards his. Just when she was about to kiss him, she repeated his actions earlier and darted her head towards his ear. "You know I'm only messing with you" she teased him with his own words. She was just about to pull away when Kakashi decided that enough was enough and grabbed her back and into a (what he considered) long overdue kiss.

Kurenai moaned as his mouth attacked hers as his arms found their way around her and his hands played with her bare skin. Kakashi was about to take it further when he felt a cold breeze and Kurenai shiver against him. He realized it was getting late and that he probably shouldn't be stood in the middle of a river making out with his female colleague. 'But it feels so right' his mind told him.

He pulled back and watched her flushed face as she gasped for air.

"It's getting late" he smiled softly, which Kurenai noted, was rare. "And it's getting colder. We should probably get dressed before we catch hypothermia"

"Don't you mean pneumonia?" she questioned playfully.

"That too" he smirked.

They swam to the bank and climbed out to get there clothes. Whilst dressing, Kakashi was lost in an inner battle. 'You know what you've got to do' grinned his romantic side. 'But it's scary, and what if she turns us down?' argued another voice. 'You maybe, but no one would ever turn me down' snided another. 'We're all the same person you baka' 'Guys, were getting off the point here. She's our colleague; what's more, she's a jounin. And she has Asuma…' 'Yeah well stuff him, he didn't seem to care earlier, ne?' 'True' '**Just ask her'**

"Kurenai" he called as she finished changing and turned to see him.

"Nani?" she asked suspiciously.

"Would you… I mean…if your not busy…maybe we could…um…" 'This is stupid' his annoying inner voice yelled. 'You've spent all day making out with her but when it comes to asking one simple question you go all shy. And you call yourself a shinobi'

"What is it Kakashi?" she asked gently, causing him to relax slightly.

"Do you fancy doing something tonight?" he asked casually, managing to pull himself together somewhat. Kurenai's eyes widened slightly.

"You mean like a date?" she asked. 'You've spent the majority of the day making out with him, why are you so surprised you baka' screeched her inner self as she realized how silly she must have sounded.

"No" replied Kakashi quickly, but then reconsidered. "Well, yeah, I mean, if you want to" 'Oh no, the poof has returned' snided his inner voice again. 'I thought you weren't afraid of anything' 'I'm not' Kakashi defended. 'Sure' replied his inner voice with a mental eye roll.

"Ok" smiled Kurenai shyly as she pushed her fingers together, a habit Kakashi could only assume she'd picked up from Hinata.

"Cool" Kakashi responded, refraining from yelling and jumping up and down. "Pick you up at eight" and with that, he vanished leaving Kurenai to stare blankly at the spot he disappeared from.

"What have I done?" she asked herself before sighing and heading towards Konoha in search of some good advice.

------------------------------

Meanwhile, Kakashi appeared not 5 meters away from where he had been standing, mask firmly back in place, and looked nonplussed at the white haired man in front of him.

"Jiraiya" he said coolly causing the man to whip around to face him.  
"Kakashi" he grinned guiltily. "Nice to see you"

"You sure about that?" Kakashi grinned evilly before using his chakra strings to tie Jiraiya up quickly. "I'll just be taking that" he smiled as he got hold of Jiraiya's camera and carefully placed it in his pocket.

"My camera" wailed Jiraiya as he struggled against the bonds.

"Oh yes, I almost forgot" smiled Kakashi in response before slamming a fist into his side causing Jiraiya to scream in pain.  
"That is for having the audacity to take pictures of underage children, especially my students, you hentai"

"They were all descent photos, I swear" pleaded Jiraiya. "It was all for research purposes. The only photos not innocent were of Kurenai"

Kakashi's eyebrows fell and twitched as his eyes turned cold and he slowly turned around to face Jiraiya. "Nani"

"Oh come on, even you know that she's one _HOT_ kunoichi" Jiraiya grinned in memory, completely ignorant of the trouble he'd just got himself into.

Kakashi roared and punched Jiraiya twice, once across his face, instantly breaking his nose and the second straight into his side and cracking several ribs on impact.

Jiraiya's scream could be heard for miles.

"This was just a warning" said Kakashi calmly. "If you so much as _look_ at Kurenai again, I will be sure to break the rest of your ribs. Is that understood?"

Jiraiya painfully nodded before Kakashi disappeared and he collapsed just as 2 ANBU members appeared.

"Are you okay Jiraiya-sama?" one asked as the other checked damages.

"Take me to Tsunade" he replied weakly.

"Hai" they replied as they took off with him.

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What will Tsunade say? You'll have to wait and see as Naruto & Hinata's chapter is too short so I needed that bit to make it longer! I know, I'm mean. Anyway, don't forget to review!


	12. Poor Hinata

Hey guys, this is dedicated to all of you who reviewed last chapter. PLease continue to review as it means so much to me and encourages me to continue writting. Anyway, next chapter you've got a choice of Ino&Shika (Ino climbing a tree? Now there's something you don't see evryday!) / Neji&Tenten (Tenten actually winning sparring...hmm...do i smell something fishy?!) or Kurenai talking with a friend (I wonder who and what about... hmmm). Anyway, let me know which you want and be sure to check it out next wednesday. Anyway, enjoy this chapter and don't forget to review! Nessiexxx

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"Jiraiya" called Tsunade with fake surprise. "What are you doing here, are you ok?" again with mock concern.

"I was attacked by these 4 massive sound ninja that were obviously out to cause trouble for Konoha, but it's ok, I managed to dispatch of them" he replied proudly.

"Oh how very brave of you. Where are the bodies and I'll send some men to tend to them" she asked, holding in the smirk.  
"Oh, it's alright, I already disposed of them in the river" he assured her.

"Really, how very clever of you. I wonder what they could have wanted after the failed attack last time"

"They could have been sent on an information gathering hunt"

"It's a surprise they would send so many ninjas, don't you think?"

"Well, I guess they wanted to make sure that at least one of the eight returned safely" he deducted. "It's just a good job I got there first"

"I thought there were 4" she smiled slightly.

"Oh, there were two teams of four; did I forget to mention that? The hit to my head must have caused some concussion"

"Oh dear, you really are brave Jiraiya, and I know exactly what you deserve"

Jiraiya grinned as Tsunade leant forward as if to kiss him, he quickly shut his eyes and awaited the impact when he felt a slap to his face causing him to fly back into the wall.

"You baka Jiraiya. Guess who I had a small visit from just now, your old friend Kakashi. And here he is telling me some tales about how he caught you taking photos of underage genin and that you would be coming here shortly to ask for healing. I mean, I knew you were low, but this is a whole new level"

"It's not true" he insisted, clutching his stinging face.

"Why are you still lying, baka? We both know it is"

"Are you not going to heal me then?" he asked quietly, still in a considerable amount of pain. Tsunade frowned.

"If I had my way I'd keep you waiting another week, but it seems Kakashi's conscience has kicked in, and he's asked me to so…" she gestured to the table.

"Thank Kami-sama" he grinned.

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Eventually Naruto and Hinata arrived at Ichiraku Ramen Bar, Naruto still keeping hold of Hinata as he dragged her over to the stools in record time.

"So what do you want to eat?" he asked, waiting impatiently for Teuchi-san to finish serving whoever it was sitting at the other end of the bar.

Hinata, meanwhile, was trying to recover from the fact that Naruto had been holding her hand all the way here. "A...arigatou, demo, I…I'm not h…hungry" she muttered.

"Nani?" asked Naruto as he spun around quickly. "Don't you like Ramen?"

"H…Hai" she stumbled. She flushed even further under his stare as she pushed her fingers together shyly.

"Dousta Hinata-chan?" he asked, noticing her red cheeks but missing how they deepened further at the word chan. "You're face is all red"

Naruto's questioning was not helping Hinata in the slightest as her cheeks continued to colour and she couldn't meet his eyes at all now.

"Are you ill?" asked Naruto suddenly, concerned for his friend that looked incredibly red at the moment. He boldly leant forward and clamped his hand to her forehead, not really sure why but having seen mothers do that to their sick children. However, Naruto pushed the already swaying Hinata too hard and she instantly fell backwards. Naruto's eyes widened as he realized that he'd inadvertently pushed her and quickly caught her sleeve and brought her back up. Hinata quickly caught the top of the bar to stop herself from further embarrassment.

"Are you alright Hinata?" asked Naruto worriedly.

"H…hai N…Naruto-kun" she muttered shyly. "I'm f…fine"

"Are you sure? Do you just not like Ramen?" He asked, quickly realising where they were and that the old man had finished serving.

"Oh n…no" she stuttered. "I l…love Ramen" she assured him.

"Great" he grinned just as Teuchi reached them.

"Naruto-sama" he called. "Great to see my favourite customer again, and I see you've brought a lovely young lady with you"

"Hai, this is Hinata" smiled Naruto, still eager to order his ramen.

"Konnichiwa Hinata-sama" smiled Teuchi kindly.

"K…konni…ichiwa" she replied shyly.

"So what can I get you kids?" he asked and Naruto leapt up.

"I'll have a tonkotsu ramen, shoyu ramen, miso ramen and shio Ramen and another miso for Hinata" he listed quickly. Teuchi just chuckled before bowing slightly and turning to get straight on it. Naruto turned to Hinata.

"Is that ok?" he asked.

"Nani?" was all she could manage.

"Miso ramen? I didn't know which you liked best, but miso ramen is my absolute favourite, not that I don't like the others because tonkotsu ramen is absolutely delicious as well…but you can't forget the unique taste of the shoyu ramen especially…" Hinata just sat there and smiled as Naruto listed off all the ramen he liked and why. Her thoughts zoned out and she was soon in her own little fantasy.

"Here you go kids" smiled Teuchi as he laid down the steaming bowls of ramen. Naruto gave a small whoop of joy as he shouted "**ITADAKIMASU**!" before digging straight into the nearest bowl. After finishing off the third bowl he turned and noticed that Hinata hadn't touched her bowl yet. He noticed her staring blankly at the chopsticks and jumped to the conclusion that she didn't know how to use them so he took the liberty of doing it for her. Since Hinata was off in her own little world, she didn't notice Naruto pick up her chopsticks, or load them full of her ramen. The first she noticed was when he called her name. She was just turning to him to ask 'what' when she felt her mouth be stuffed with ramen. Not ready for it she started choking which completely freaked Naruto out. He quickly hit her on the back, but unfortunately this caused her to spit the ramen out all over him. Hinata's eyes shot open wide as she saw what she had done. Her cheeks flamed as tears entered her eyes. 'Oh no' she thought. 'Look what I've gone and done now'

"Gomen, Naruto-kun" she cried as she quickly got off her stool and ran away.

Naruto just sat there with a puzzled look on his face. He realized he had upset her somehow but wasn't aware what he had done. 'Oh well' he thought. 'I'll figure it out later' he decided as his eyes turned back to his bowls of ramen. 'No need for good ramen to go to waste' he grinned before diving in again. His eating soon slowed, however, and he sighed. 'Look' his stomach reasoned with his brain and conscience. 'I promise we'll go find Hinata after this and sort it all out'. He tried to go back to eating but his brain interrupted him once again. 'But we don't know what we've done. Girl's don't tend to like us asking…at least, Sakura-chan doesn't'. 'Well then we'll describe the situation to…' then he froze, who could he ask? Sakura would probably beat him up for not knowing, Sasuke wouldn't care, Ero-sennin…even Naruto wasn't _that_ much of a baka. 'We could always ask Kakashi - sensei' tried his stomach. 'He's bound to know about girls; what with all the books he reads' His head reluctantly agreed, his conscience was satisfied and his stomach rejoiced as it got back to feeding.


	13. Manly Neji

Yup, it's Wednesday again, what fun! This is the Neji and Tenten chapter you've all been waiting for and it's dedicated to all of the Neji and Tenten fans out there, like me, NEJITEN ROCKS!

Also, where have all my lovely reviewers gone? You've all disappeared. Either you've all buggered off on holiday (In which case why wasn't i invited?) or you've become Shikamaru and decided it's too "Mendouksai". Please, it takes me sooo VERY LONG to write this fic, I've been writting it for over 3 months now and I still have more planned. It only takes you a minute to write a review and it means so much to me and helps me keep my inspiration. And I try and include everyone's suggestions if I can. So please just take the time to leave a comment or suggestion, or even why it isn't good enough to inspire you to review. I can't improve if you don't let me know.

ANYWAY, to all of you who did review, I LOVE YOU! And i think I left you all a personal thank you, if i didn't, then i apolagise and thank you now! Enjoy;

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Neji lead Tenten to a spot on the river where a tree had been struck by lightening and fallen across the width of the river. It was a decent width so that a person could walk across it comfortably but no more then one. Neji dumped their clothes down near a tree and jumped onto the log.

"This is where we train" he commented with a monotone voice as Tenten followed him. "We'll train in taijutsu, first to cause their opponent to lose their balance and fall in wins" and with that said he got into a ready stance as Tenten copied.

Tenten dodged as Neji assaulted her with a variety of kicks and punches. She ducked under a hook punch before jumping over a sweeping kick and sent her own punches back to which Neji dodged easily.

"You're going to have to do better then that" grinned Neji as he threw out a couple of punches before turning and aiming a stamping kick straight towards her to which Tenten dodged by going into a back flip, causing Neji to gaze after her.

It was times like these when Neji truly respected Tenten for what she was, a kunoichi. Although Tenten was unmistakably a tomboy, Neji couldn't help but notice that some of the movements and actions she executed were extremely feminine. Especially as he watched her twirl around to face him with such natural balance and grace. He ducked suddenly, narrowly missing Tenten's attacks.

"You can't win by zoning out Neji-kun" grinned Tenten as Neji regained his balance and aimed a couple of punches which she blocked.

Tenten's eyes suddenly widened as Neji's eyes turned white and his hands started glowing. Being his team mate for long enough, she instantly knew the attack.

"Neji" she reprimanded. "Using Juken is cheating, you said taijutsu only"

"Hn" muttered Neji with a role of his eyes, but conceded anyway. 'This is getting troublesome' he thought to himself. 'There's no way I can beat her without the Byakugan or other jutsu's, after training with Lee she's just as good at taijutsu as I am. There's got to be another way to beat her…'

Neji smirked slyly as he got an idea. He waited for Tenten to perform a twin punch before deflecting her arms to the side and grabbed her upper arms in the process. Tenten only just had time to ask 'What…' before she was being literally hurled into the river. Neji watched her wide eyes in satisfaction as she hit the water backwards.

Tenten emerged sputtering obscenities before glaring up at him from her position in the river.

"**NEJI** that was _**CHEATING**_" she yelled at him, causing his grin to widen.

"Nande?" He asked casually.

"Don't you _**NANDE**_ me" she exclaimed. "You said _taijutsu_, knocking the person _off balance_… **not picking them up and throwing them in**"

"It still counts" smirked Neji. "Besides, what does it really matter, we both knew you were going to lose anyway"

"_**NANI**?_" she screeched. "If you hadn't noticed, I was doing just as well as you until you _cheated_. It's the reason why you did. I would have probably won had you not"

"Prove it" grinned Neji in such a way that Tenten wasn't sure whether to punch him or snog him… but that just made her even more furious.

"_Neji_" she growled warningly.

"So you think you would have won if I hadn't _cheated_" he smirked. "Is that it?"

"Isn't that what I've been saying this whole time?" she ground out.

"Ok, here's the deal then. If you can knock me off this log then you were right, I cheated, and you win by default. If you can't, then I was right and I win"

"Deal" grinned Tenten before hurling 5 water kunai at him. Neji, however, was expecting this and quickly activated his Byakugan and dispersed of them.

"Neji, that's cheating" she exclaimed, pouting.

"Actually Tenten, I didn't specify the rules to this decider match. And if you can use your jutsu then I can certainly use mine" he grinned cheekily.

"Hmpf" she muttered before sending an onslaught of weapons his way. She knew he couldn't use his ultimate defence – the Hakkeshō Kaiten – due to the fact that it would demolish the branch he was standing on. That left him with the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms and, sure enough, she noticed Neji do the hand seals. She smiled to herself for knowing him so well. She only hoped that Neji would forget his surroundings and fall off the branch, but so far he seemed to be going strong. Her fists clenched tighter before she doubled the number of kunai heading his way, only to have each of them deflected.

'This is getting me no-where' she thought, severely annoyed. She also realised she was quickly running out of chakra. 'Kuso' she thought. 'If only Neji had another weakness, one that causes him to stand still and stare…' suddenly she was hit by a flashback. She saw herself standing on a bank undressing whilst everyone in the river before her had their backs turned. 'Why am I seeing this?' she asked herself. She was about to go back when she caught sight of Neji out of the corner of her eye. There he was, staring at the other her undressing, not moving his eyes away from her body. And then it hit her. 'Neji may be a top ninja, but he's still just a guy' she giggled as she faded back into the present time. She looked up to see Neji smirking at her with that annoying smirk.

"Giving up already?" he grinned. "I expected more from you Tenten"

"Maybe" she smiled as she created one last water weapon. Neji watched wearily as the weapon moved higher and higher until it was just above her head. Tenten smiled as Neji's eyes took on a tone of confusion, right before she cut her hair bands, causing her extremely long and silky hair to tumble down around her.

Neji stood there in complete shock. He'd never seen Tenten with her hair down before, even during their missions, training, never. It was always in those annoying buns. Of course he'd wondered what her hair was really like before, but he always assumed it was about shoulder length, never in his wildest dreams did he imagine it was nearing her backside. Tenten looked on with a smile before she flung her last kunai with incredible speed and accuracy towards her target, and just like her reputation stated, it hit straight on. Neji's eyes widened in pure shock as he felt himself fall backwards into the water.

"Looks like I win, Neji" grinned Tenten before realising her sparring partner hadn't actually emerged yet. "Neji?" she called again.

She was just about to go over to the spot he had disappeared under when she felt someone move her hair aside before kissing her neck.

"Two can play that game" murmured Neji as he attacked his team mate's neck. Somewhere inside him his conscience was yelling and shaking the bars of his confinement whilst the mini devil just laughed and waggled the keys.

"Mmm" moaned Tenten, leaning against him slightly as his assault continued and she couldn't help but be a tad shocked that this was happening.

She wasn't the only one.

Neji himself was starting to wonder what he was doing, but the little devil instantly drew a curtain around his little angel, along with a very handy gag. Neji heard Tenten's sigh and felt her lean into him more. He couldn't help but feel proud of his hold over her at that moment, his more masculine side revelling in this fact, bringing out his smirk.

Tenten instantly snapped back to reality as she felt the smirk against her neck and gathered all of the strength she had left and pushed away from Neji, plastering a smirk onto her own face.

"Thanks for my prize for winning Neji" she smirked slyly as he stood there, dumbfounded. "It was…_ok_" she drawled before sashaying off towards her clothes. 'OK?' thought Neji and that one word snapped him out of his previous shock. The man in Neji roared and he took after the kunoichi and grabbed hold of her. Tenten looked on in pure shock as Neji pushed her up against a tree.

"Just…_OK_?" he asked before he crushed his lips to hers.

Tenten stood there in complete shock. Ok, so Sakura was right, she had had a crush on Neji since they were put on the same team, but only in her wildest dreams did she ever think this would happen. Her body quickly took over, however, and she found herself kissing him back. She wanted to put her arms around his neck like she had seen in all the movies, but Neji was still gripping them tightly by her side. She soon lost herself in the passion and possessiveness of Neji's kiss and remembering his original question, answered him.

"Mmm, incredible" she moaned in answer. It was then that Neji's mini angel (Let's call him Kiwi, for the hell of it!) burst out of his prison and yelled at Neji. Neji's eyes widened as reality suddenly hit him and he stepped back quickly in shock, releasing Tenten and causing her to drop to the floor from the sudden change. His lips moved on their own accord, but no words came out as he looked as his team mate, desperately trying to gather her breathe from were she was on the ground. 'What the **_HELL_** have I done?' he asked himself.

"Gomen" he muttered quietly before turning and fleeing away. "Gomen nasai"

Tenten sat there on the floor panting, wondering what the hell just happened and if she had indeed dreamt the whole thing. Looking up she caught her reflection in the river and noticed a big red blotch on her pale neck.

"I guess not" she chuckled before dressing and heading home.

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Please don't forget to review, and next chapter will be Shika and Ino, though I like that chapter so if I get plenty of reviews quickly I may break my schedule and upload it on Saturday.


	14. Mendouksai

Ohayo, and for those of you going, "what, is it wednesday already?" ... no it's not. But as all of the lovely people who reviewed know (I love you all btw!) I decided to add up the ShikaIno chapter early as a thank you for the great response I had to the last chapter and I also want to say a humongous thank you to **AsianAnimeGoddess** because she just started reading and still reviewed every single chapter, I cannot tell you how much I giggled the rest of the day after that! Lol.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy it and aren't too put off by all the Japanese words I added (yeah, after watching the eps in Jap I'm starting to pick it up... it bugs my friends anyway! So I've listed the words at the end if you get stuck!). Enjoy! Nessiexxx

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"**SHIKAMARU** YOU'D _BETTER_ STOP YOUR LAZY BUTT **THIS** **MINUTE** OR I'LL TELL ASUMA IT WAS **YOU** WHO _STOLE_ HIS PACKET OF CIGARETTES" Ino yelled after the genius ninja clutching her clothes.

"Troublesome girl" muttered Shikamaru before he stopped and sat down with his back to the tree he had stopped under.

"You can stop your yelling; we're here anyway" he told Ino. Ino stopped as she realized he'd lead her here all along. She stood, panting slightly, and looked at his relaxed form and glared.

"And _where_ exactly is _here_?" she asked him grumpily.

"The greatest spot in all of Konoha" he replied with his eyes closed.

Ino looked around. She noticed she was back by the river and stood under a big oak tree that seemed to tower over the surrounding area. Past the river she could see the houses of Konoha in the distance and beyond that were the mountains containing the faces of the past and present Hokages. It was quite breathe taking.

"It's better from up there" Shikamaru said lazily, not even bothering to gesture.

Ino looked up into the big tree and saw a small platform part way up and a rope tied next to it. Upon closer examination she realised that the rope was actually a make shift swing that went out over the river.

"Oh Shika-kun" she squealed. "Can we go up?" she asked, literally bouncing on the spot. Shikamaru looked over and rolled his eyes.  
"Mendouksai" he moaned. Ino took this as a yes and squealed even further. She turned around and started walking away.

"Where are you going?" he asked, keeping his disappointment to himself.

Ino turned and rolled her eyes at him. "To get a run up" she snided with that tone of voice she uses that clearly said 'and you're supposed to be the clever one'.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes but got up and out of her way. As soon as he'd moved Ino put her hands together and started moving her chakra to her feet…only, it didn't. She tried again, still nothing.

"Dousta?"

"I think I used up too much chakra during the water battle" she sighed as she walked dejectedly back to the tree.

"So?" he asked.

"I wanted to see the view and go on the swing" she sighed, annoyed.

"Why can't you just climb it normally?" he pointed out causing Ino to look at him like he'd grown a second head.

"Do I look like the sort of girl who spent her childhood climbing trees?" she replied sarcastically.

"Troublesome girl" muttered Shikamaru, earning a glare from said girl. "Look, it's easy. All you've got to do is use the knots as steps"

"Knots?"

"Ergh" he moaned. "They're the bits that stick out from the tree" he explained before sighing again at her look of disbelief. "Just follow me and copy what I do" He walked up to the tree before expertly grabbing onto one of the knots and hoisting himself up. Ino looked, shrugged, and copied.

If felt like she had been climbing forever before she watched Shikamaru finally swing himself up and onto the branch holding the platform. She was incredibly aware that her finger nails were now full of dirt and that her hair was coming loose, not to mention that her knees were grazed. 'Note to self' she thought. 'Next time you go tree climbing, make sure you're wearing more then just your underwear' Thinking about how long she had been climbing, she looked down and her eyes widened. They were a lot higher up then she had originally imagined, and she was now terrified of falling. The ground seemed so far away it was making her dizzy. She started to panic and looked up and into the face of Shikamaru.

"Dousta?" he asked.

"It's just… I mean…" she stuttered, trying her hardest not to look down again. "I didn't realize we were this high up"

"Ino" he smiled which, even in her current state, she noted for the rare occasion it was. "You don't have to be scared. You've already come this far, it's only a little further, and besides, I'm here"

Ino nodded and made it the rest of the way towards the branch, however when she got there she realized just how tricky it was going to be to get over it.

"I can't do it"

"Of course you can. Just reach for that knot there and pull yourself up, it's easy" he assured her. Ino gulped before reaching out, but as she did so she felt her other hand slip and she screamed as she felt the pull of gravity. A hand shot out and grabbed her wrist as she felt herself stop falling and watched as Shikamaru easily swung her up onto the branch next to him.

"Mendouksai" he mumbled again and Ino was just about to yell at him for his lack of concern when she looked at his face. In his eyes held a deep sense of worry and relief and she realized his hands felt slightly clammy. Shikamaru suddenly realized he was still clutching her hand and quickly released it.

"You alright?" he asked, seemingly casual, but Ino heard the concern there.

Ino just nodded before looking around and gasped. The view from the bottom had been wonderful, but it was abysmal in comparison to the view now. Ino hadn't realized just how late it was getting but the pinks in the sky where the sun was beginning to disappear behind the mountains were giving her a clue. Below them was Konoha, laid out for all to see. Ino realized she could make out everything, from her families flower shop, to her house and Skaura's, and the Uchiha estate and the Hokage mansion and tower and the academy…it was all right there. And she could even make out little doll shaped people walking around.

"It's amazing" she breathed quietly as Shikamaru took a seat against the main trunk again. "Uhuh" he agreed. He'd seen it so many times before; it wasn't as amazing to him now. But it did aid him in relaxing on a cloudless day.

When the novelty had finally worn off, Ino looked around and noticed the rope hanging next to her.

"You want a go?" Shikamaru asked lazily.

"No" replied Ino quickly, eyes widening.

"Why not?" he asked again, the idea suddenly intriguing him.

"After almost falling to my death, I am in no hurry to do it again" she assured him.

"I caught you didn't I" he grinned, getting up from his position.

"Hai, demo…"

"Oh come on Ino, you're not _afraid_ are you?" he tormented.

'_HAI'_ screamed her mind but she wouldn't let him know that. "No"

"Don't worry. We'll go on together"

"Fine" she assured him. "Not that you need to, but I can't leave you here on your own" she added, just to make sure he wasn't going to back out. She grabbed the rope and headed to the edge of the platform, once there she took one look down and gulped. She started to move backwards but she collided with a solid form.

"It's perfectly safe Ino; I've done it hundreds of times"

"I'm not afraid" she assured him quickly. "I was just…" But she didn't have time to argue as he quickly took hold of the rope with his arms around her and pushed them off. Ino screamed as he laughed before feeling her almost bare back against his bare chest. 'Kuso' he cursed, 'I'd forgotten she was only in her underwear'

Ino calmed down when she felt Shikamaru against her. Sure she was still petrified, but she just felt safer with Shikamaru there. She knew Sakura was right, she was over Sasuke, and she had been for a while. 'Be honest, you never really liked him at all. You just wanted to annoy Sakura' chided her inner self. She knew now though, and she knew that she had started growing feelings towards her team mate. What those feelings were was still unclear, but she knew she had them.

Shikamaru, meanwhile, was having similar thoughts. He knew there was something about Ino, beyond her nagging and moaning and constant talking… 'Troublesome girl' he told himself. 'Why couldn't you have picked someone quiet and shy, like Hinata' Then he thought back to how Ino had said that Hinata liked Naruto… 'Maybe opposites do attract' he thought.

"See, nothing to it" grinned Shikamaru as he pushed them off again.

"Hai" agreed Ino, still clinging to the rope. "I told you I wasn't scared, that was all you. Why would I be scared of a little thing like this, ne? I'm a kunoichi, and we're not afraid of anything" she continued to babble on and Shikamaru rolled his eyes before being overtaken by a genuinely evil idea. As they hovered over the middle of the river again he quickly let go and tickled under her arms.

"SHIKAMARU" she cried in laughter, causing her to let go. It wasn't until that moment that she realized his motive and that they were now hurtling downwards.

She instantly turned and clung to him for dear life, forgetting about hurting him for the moment yet managing to do so anyway by screaming in his ear.

"Trust me" He whispered in her ear as she stopped screaming and looked at him. It was in that moment that Shikamaru and Ino both realized the full intensity of their feelings as they crashed through the water.

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Mendouksai - Troublesome

Dousta - what's wrong

Hai - yes

Demo - but

Kuso - shit

ne? - right?

And there you have it. The next chapter will be posted on Wednesday as usual. Please remember to review. Up next will be a little conversation between Kurenai and a friend...


	15. Gossip

Ok, i appolagise in advance, i know its short, but u did have an addition on Saturday so I don't want any complaints! Thanks again to all my wonderful reviewers and if u didn't review... I'm to hyper to scold u today. We had x-mas party with mistletoe, hehe. Hope you enjoy it and merry christmas to you all!

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Kurenai walked through the streets of Konoha and blushed. Everywhere she went heads seemed to turn and she could distinctly see people whispering. She could have sworn that she even heard the phrases "Kakashi" and "Well I never" more then once. She quickened her pace and kept her head down as she made her way towards a certain apartment and knocked at the door before waiting patiently for her friend to answer.

"Coming, coming" came the reply inside as the locks were tampered with and the door swung open to reveal a rather disheveled Anko.

"Kurenai" she called in amusement. "I expected you tomorrow"

"Nani?" asked Kurenai bewilderedly.

"Come in" grinned Anko as she ushered her friend inside. "I assumed you'd still be with Kakashi"

"So you've heard then"

"Kurenai dear, the whole of Konoha has heard" she grinned.

"Yeah, about that, what do they know exactly?" she questioned in dread, hoping her reputation hadn't been tarnished at all.

"Only that the two of you were seen spending the day together and seemed extremely close. Don't worry, they know nothing of the underwear situation" ginned Anko mischievously.

"But you _do_ then" asked Kurenai with a raised eye.  
"I…uh…heard it from one of the kids' parents" smiled Anko nervously. "Same as everyone else" Kurenai raised an eyebrow.

"If you were 13, would you really tell your parents that you'd seen your sensei in their underwear?" she questioned with her 'don't mess with me' tone of voice. "What you really mean is Asuma came and told you all about it and then you told everyone else"

"Not _everyone_" Anko defended quickly. "Just a couple of my colleagues who have a right to know; just like you have a right to know that…" she ushered Kurenai closer and whispered in her ear.

"_No Way_" exclaimed Kurenai as she pulled back.

"Way" assured Anko with a grin.

"That's not the point. I don't see why they have a right to know my business"

"Think of it this way. Nothing stays secret in this village, you're surrounded by shinobi. At least this way you can control what is being said and get it over with"

"True… anyway. That's not why I came here"

"No, I reckon you came here to ask advice about a certain copy ninja"

"Hai… he's kind of asked me out tonight"

"Kawaii!" exclaimed Anko excitedly. "It's about time you got a date"

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Kurenai testily.  
"Oh come on, you concentrate so much on work; when was the last time you had a date?" asked Anko with a knowing grin.

"Well, ano…" thought Kurenai. "I guess that the last time was with Iruka"

"That was five years ago honey" smiled Anko, already waiting with the answer. "And even that was more about the kids and the academy then an actual date"

Kurenai meanwhile was thinking it over. 'Was it really five years ago?' she thought. 'Wow, I really don't get out much'

"Face it sweetie" grinned Anko. "This date will do you the world of good"

"Oh Kami-sama" cried Kurenai suddenly. "I've got a _date_. What on earth am I going to wear?" she cried in desperation, the idea just now sinking in.

"Well, how about that dress you brought a while back…you know, the one you said you'd get for dates. To which I responded…"

"Like that's going to happen anytime soon" filled in Kurenai with a smile.

"Besides, you're lucky, landing a hunk like Kakashi, he'll know how to treat a woman properly"

"If he's not late, or too busy insulting…"

"But isn't that half the fun" Anko winked.  
"I guess" grinned Kurenai as she thought back to earlier today.

"Now, you go home, get ready, and look drop dead gorgeous for your date. And no matter what, enjoy yourself"

"Thanks Anko" she smiled as she hugged her friend. "And don't worry; I'll give you all the gossip first thing tomorrow"

"Might be second thing" winked Anko mischievously again. Kurenai rolled her eyes but couldn't help the grin plastered on her face.

"See you later girl" Kurenai called as she walked out the door.

"Don't forget to create me juicy gossip whilst your enjoying yourself" Anko called after her. 'Hmm' thought Anko. 'I admit, I would never have seen it coming…but they would make such an adorable couple. He's just what Kurenai needs to loosen up a bit, and I'm sure she'll be able to work on his discipline issues as well'

On her way home, Kurenai bumped into Asuma.

"Ohayo Kurenai" he smiled.

"Oh ohayo Asuma" she smiled in return, anxious to get home but never one to ignore a friend and fellow jounin.

"Listen, I'm sorry about earlier, I had no right to behave like that"

"It's alright Asuma" she assured him.

"Tell you what, let's go get some coffee and I'll make it up to you"  
"Maybe some other time, I've got a date" and she giggled at the sound.

"A date?" asked Asuma curiously. "Who with?"

"Kakashi" muttered Kurenai quietly as she blushed.

"So you two _are_ going out" he questioned, eyebrows furrowed.

"No" cried Kurenai quickly but then suddenly thought about it and reconsidered. "Well, I guess we are tonight. But we're not an item if that's what you mean. We're just going to let loose and have some fun"

"Have some fun?" he questioned, eyebrow raised. "You've been talking to Anko"

"And thank you very much for filling her in" replied Kurenai sweetly causing Asuma to blush and lower his head slightly. "Anyway, I need to go get ready. I'll see you tomorrow" she called as she sprinted off towards her house.

"Kakashi eh?" Asuma thought out loud as he continued walking.


	16. Confrontations

Well hello there my little fans! This is a special lil chapter to just wish all of my readers out there a very merry christmas! This chapter is especially dedicated to everyone whose ever reviewed and the many, MANY people who have this story saved to their favs and story alerts. But I must say... out of all of the 90 peeps who have this saved to favs or alerts, I seem to be missing an aweful lot of reviews! So, here's my christmas present to you all, and wouldn't it be very nice to recieve christmas presents from all of you! (Is that a big enough hint or do I have to try harder? lol)

MERRY CHRISTMAS, nessiexxx

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It had gone seven and Kakashi was coolly walking down the street, thinking over the events of the day but not really taking it in, when he bumped into someone.

"Gomen" he smiled up at the man until he saw who it was. "Asuma?"

"Kakashi" replied Asuma. "Just the man I wanted to see. I hear you have a date with Kurenai later"

"What about it?" asked Kakashi suspiciously.

"Going anywhere nice?"

"Hmm, not really thought about it" Kakashi brushed him off causing Asuma's temper to flare and he grabbed Kakashi by his collar.  
"Well you'd better start thinking quickly then"

"Or what?" asked Kakashi as he brushed Asuma's hands off.

"Let's just say, if you don't, you'd better sleep with your right eye open, because you're going to need the sharingan if you want to live"

"Why do you care anyway?"

"We're very close; she's like a little sister to me"

"Yes, and your like an extremely overprotective brother" muttered Kakashi

"Got that right. All I'm saying is, you had better treat her right, take her somewhere nice and act like an actual gentleman. The last thing she needs is to be hurt by someone like you"

"You wound me Asuma" mocked Kakashi but held up his hand when Asuma was about to threaten him some more. "But I'm not as heartless as you all seem to think, besides, I really like Kurenai"

"You do?" Asuma asked and Kakashi spotted a hint of…was that jealousy?

"Hai" assured Kakashi. "So you needn't worry, she's going to be in good hands" 'Ok, is it just me, or did that seem extremely dodgy?' he thought to himself, and by the raised eyebrow Asuma was giving him, he realized it wasn't just him.

"Hmm" replied Asuma, choosing not to comment on Kakashi's choice of phrasing. "Just remember this, if I find out that you've hurt her in any way…"

"Warning taken and understood" grinned Kakashi with a mock salute. "Now if you don't mind, I think I've got some thinking to do" and with that he turned and swaggered off, leaving behind a scowling Asuma.

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Kurenai was just getting out of the shower when the doorbell rung. 'I wonder who that could be' she thought as she wrapped a towel around herself and quickly went to answer it. She pulled back the door, being careful to only open it enough to still be able to hide her body from view but was met with a shock.

"Ohayo" smiled Kakashi back at her, causing Kurenai's eyes to widen. He stood there, one hand in pocket and the other holding a beautiful bouquet of flowers, but what surprised Kurenai most was the sight of him wearing a pair of dress trousers and a shirt, along with his precious mask. Kurenai just stood there gawking.

"Kakashi…" she spluttered, unaware that in her surprise she had open the door fully, giving him complete view of her state of undress. Kakashi looked at Kurenai's dripping hair, pink cheeks and his gaze dropped lower to the hint of cleavage showing and lower still to the bottom of the towel, showing off her lean and perfectly shaped legs. He hid the blush and nose bleed he knew was coming and instead brought his thoughts back from NC-17 to Pg-13 … well, he couldn't be a complete saint after all!

"You going like that?" he asked cheekily. "Because I may have to change my previous plans, not that I mind" he smirked.

"You're early" she spluttered in response, unconsciously gripping the towel tighter.

"Can't I make exceptions every now and then; I'd hate to become predictable after all" he smirked as she finally understood his previous comment.

"You're _half an hour_ early" she stressed, coming across quite annoyed as she desperately tried to cling to her last pieces of self respect and dignity.

"And that just goes to show how much more important you are over my reputation" he replied quite charmingly causing Kurenai to roll her eyes, but even she couldn't hide the smile that his words caused.

"You'd better come in then" she smiled as she moved out of the way and gestured for him to enter. Kakashi smiled and made his way inside, entering the door on the left and taking a seat on the plush couch.  
"I shouldn't be too long" she mumbled before leaving the room. "You can find a vase for those if you get bored; you know your way around" and she disappeared.

It was true though, he did know his way around. Out of all the jounins, Kurenai was one of the very few who actually lived in a house. The majority preferring to live in apartments due to upkeep, cost or family ties, and often a combination of all three. It was customary, therefore, that all meetings held between their little group were held at Kurenai's, and Kakashi liked to think of it as a 'home away from home'. The only fault he could find was that it was _ALWAYS_ spotless, never a speck of dust in the place, and he spent many a time here wondering how.

Kakashi wasn't stupid, he knew he was ridiculously early, and he also knew she wouldn't be ready yet. Furthermore, he knew what women were like, that it was their job to spend forever getting ready and make them late. Frankly, that was his thing, and no woman was going to steal it from him. He figured that by arriving early, he could speed the process up somewhat.

He grinned slyly to himself as he went across the hall and into the small kitchen where he found a vase for the flowers before going back into the small living room, flipping on the TV and making himself comfy.

---------------------------

Kurenai appeared around 20 minutes later and Kakashi couldn't help but drop his jaw. Her long black hair was put up into a bun, which was being held by what appeared to be senbon, and left a few wisps framing her face. She was wearing what at first appeared to Kakashi to be a kimono but it was styled in such a way that the bottom section looked somewhat Chinese as it had 2 long slits running up towards her thighs and the front tapered inwards to reveal her two long, shapely legs. The top section though looked normal with a tie at the side to hold the wrap around in place, long flowing sleeves and a 'V' shaped neckline showing off her cleavage.

"Wow" gasped Kakashi, not able to find anything else to say.

"Nani?" she mock gasped. "No cheeky quip about my appearance?"

"I…ano…hai…uh…" Kakashi was really having trouble accessing his brain at this point and Kurenai couldn't help but blush under his stare. He suddenly snapped out of it and grinned.

"I'd like to thank you in advance"

"For what?" she wondered curiously.

"Well you don't look anything like you normally do" he replied almost sincerely. "People are actually going to think I've pulled some sort of goddess"

"Are you saying I don't look pretty usually?"

"Those were your words, not mine. But now that you mention it…"  
"Don't finish that sentence" she warned.

"Ok" he gave in. "But I was only going to say that pretty is such an understatement for how you usually look"

"Flattery will get you nowhere" she semi-glared, but it was ruined by the small smile that flittered about her lips. "But I'm a kunoichi; we aren't supposed to spend ages on our looks. It's not as if we can stop part way through a battle to fix our hair or something"

"So are you armed now?" he asked innocently.

"I'm a kunoichi, I'm _always_ armed"

"Where?" he asked innocently again, curiosity starting to peak through since he couldn't see any hidden weapons and there weren't many more places to hide kunai in that dress.

"Wouldn't you like to know" she smirked. 'I will not get perverted thoughts' chanted Kakashi. 'I will not get perverted thoughts, I will not…' Kurenai winked and picked up her bag.

"Shall we go?" she smirked and Kakashi could do nothing but watch her hips as she sashayed out of the room. 'Kuso' he thought.

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Don't forget to leave me a wonderful christmas prezzy and review!


	17. Unexpected intrusion

I was going to split this chapter in two, but then I thought 'oh sod it' and so I've posted the lot to say thanks for everyone whose reviewed and gomen (sorry) that i may have missed one out... oh well. Its here now. This is all about Kakashi and Kurenai's date... including an unexpected guest... don't forget to review!

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Kakashi waited patiently for Kurenai to lock the door before offering her his arm and leading her towards their destination.

"So, where are you taking me tonight?" asked Kurenai suddenly.

"You never told me how I looked" Kakashi stated suddenly.

"You look alright, I suppose" she mocked as he pouted.

"And for that I'm now taking you to Danny's" he smirked as she laughed. Danny's was a renowned restaurant in Konoha, famous for its smoke filled rooms and dingy setting. It was the perfect atmosphere for planning missions, but not exactly romantic.

Kakashi suddenly turned right down a side street and Kurenai realized that he was actually leading them towards it.

"You weren't serious were you?" she asked, suddenly not so sure. 'So much for Anko's theory of knowing how to treat a girl' she mused.

"Give me some credit" he grinned, taking another turn before reaching the seedy bar. "A guy can't spend all day reading romantic novels and then take a girl to that sort of place. I'm not a total baka"

"No, but getting there" she grinned.

"It's not too late to turn back" he retorted as she giggled.

"OK, ok, I'll behave" she giggled as they stopped outside a rather classy looking restaurant that caused Kurenai to stop.

"Takara Yuri?" she asked softly. "But we only arranged this not 2 hours ago, you need to book at least a month ahead to get a spot in here"

"Don't worry your pretty little head about it" he smirked annoyingly before entering and Kurenai found she had no choice but to follow. The restaurant was neatly set out with tables for two covering the entire area. There were chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and the whole place had a pink tinge to it, creating the most romantic setting. Each table was covered in a silken table clothe and had a flower in the centre. Soft music could be heard in the background and some of the tables were even surrounded by trellises covered in climbing plants to give the customers an even more private feeling. Even though Kurenai had never been inside before, even she had heard of its famous reputation as the most romantic restaurant in the world. What she had said to Kakashi about a months booking in advance was true and she had also heard tell of the prices, which was making her uncomfortable as she still wasn't sure if Anko was just pulling her leg or not.

"Can I help you Kakashi-sama?" asked the waiter politely.

"Can I speak with your manager please" asked Kakashi, equally as politely.

"Of course Kakashi-sama" bowed the waiter before exiting.

"Wow this place is posh" muttered Kurenai under her breathe.

"Don't you like it?" asked Kakashi worriedly.

"Hai" she assured him quickly. "It's absolutely gorgeous"

"I thought you'd like it" he smiled just as the waiter returned with his boss in turn.

"Konbanwa Yuudai" smiled Kakashi politely.

"Ah Kakashi-san, great to see you again my old friend" he greeted Kakashi warmly. "And this must be the lovely Kurenai-san" he smiled, turning to Kurenai.

"Konbanwa" she smiled.

"Kakashi, you never told me how beautiful she was"

"If I had told you that then you'd have been after her" replied Kakashi lazily.

"Hai" agreed Yuudai. "Though I'm not sure Ayaka would be happy about that"

"Ayaka?" Kurenai asked in suspission.

"My wife" he answered with a grin that Kurenai mirrored. "Anyway, I'm sure you didn't intend to talk to me the whole night. Izumo, show them to my table"

"At once Yuudai-sama" he bowed, picking up the menus and ushering Kakashi and Kurenai to follow him.

"Enjoy your evening" smiled Yuudai as they walked away towards a small platform and the back that was hidden by several trellis covered in pink and purple flowers. Kakashi and Kurenai took a seat opposite each other and smiled in thanks as Izumo handed them each a menu.

"What would you like to drink?" he asked Kakashi.

"We'll have the house white?" he answered without even checking with Kurenai.

"Very good" nodded the waiter before disappearing.

"Why did you pick that?" asked Kurenai when he was out of hearing range.

"It's highly rated as being one of the best wines around" answered Kakashi with a smile. "And I chose white because you favorite dish is salted octopus, ne?"

Kurenai just sat there looking stunned. 'Since when does he know me so well?' She decided to look at her menu instead of dwell on it and received an even greater shock for her trouble. 'So Anko wasn't joking' she thought. 'She wasn't even exaggerating'

"What's wrong?" asked Kakashi as he watched her face fall.

"Nani?" asked Kurenai as her head shot up from behind the menu. "Oh" she blushed as her brain caught up with her ears. "It's just… these prices are so…"

"None of your concern; Tonight is all on me." finished Kakashi for her, leaving Kurenai with mixed feelings, but it didn't last long. "And don't worry; I'm sure you can make it up to me somehow" She rolled her eyes but still kept the smile.

They ordered their food and sat waiting in silence. It was silly really; they had been talking and laughing all day, not a care in the world. But now, just because they were on a "date", they suddenly felt awkward.

'Oh yes' thought Kurenai. 'I'm wearing more clothes, we're hidden away from prying eyes and it's **now** that I feel weird, cause that makes sense' she sighed as she mentally rolled her eyes.

All of a sudden they heard some commotion coming from over near the door and before long they saw a familiar face pop around the trellis causing the jounin to groan.

"Oh, Kakashi-sensei, I've been looking for you _everywhere_" cried Naruto as he magically grabbed a chair from somewhere and sat down inbetween the couple.

"Naruto, how… unexpected to see you" replied Kakashi slowly.

"I know. I would have never found you here had I not bumped into Asuma and asked him and he said he happened to see you heading this way" grinned Naruto. "So here I am"

'I must remember to _thank_ Asuma later' Kakashi and Kurenai thought simultaneously as the oblivious Naruto just sat there and grinned.

"Was there something you wanted?" asked Kakashi after a while.

"Oh yes, I wanted to ask you something"

"If you hadn't noticed, we're kind of busy" hinted Kakashi.

"It's about Hinata" added Naruto which gained Kurenai's attention.

"What about her?"

"Well, you see" began Naruto dramatically. "It all started after you two left us, and we didn't know what to do next. And I was _REALLY_ hungry, but Neji and Tenten were being _really_ mean and Ino and Shikamaru didn't want to come with me; so I asked Hinata and she said she would…"

"Are we getting near the point yet?" moaned Kakashi

"I'm getting there" snapped Naruto. "Honestly, some shinobi are so impatient"

"Get on with it" Kakashi almost screamed.

"Ok, ok" surrendered Naruto. "Anyway, we got to Ichiraku's and, I'm not really sure, all I know is that Hinata went off obviously upset but I don't know why"

"Well, what did you do?" asked Kurenai, worried about her student.

"Well when we got there, I noticed Hinata wasn't feeling well…"

"Why?" asked Kakashi.

"Honestly Kakashi, I know you want to spend some quality time chatting up your girlfriend but I'm in the middle of a crisis here. Anyway, if you must know, she was all red. Oh, just like your girlfriend is" added Naruto upon seeing Kurenai blushing at the mention of 'girlfriend'. "Are you alright Kurenai-Sensei?" asked Naruto, repeating his actions from earlier. He leant forward towards Kurenai and put his hand against her forehead, causing Kurenai (who wasn't expecting it) to lose her balance and start tumbling backwards. Kakashi, who had the foresight to see this, instantly grabbed her hand and pulled her back up, causing her blush to deepen, especially when he didn't let go of her hand.

"Yeah, that's what happened to Hinata too" muttered Naruto thoughtfully. "She even got redder just like you did Kurenai-sensei…but she didn't glare at me…or make her hand into a fist…and…Kakashi-sensei, I'm scared"

Kakashi stroked Kurenai's hand in an attempt to calm her down. "It's called embarrassment Naruto. It's an emotion suffered by people of both genders, except we all react differently"  
"I don't get it" mumbled Naruto, still keeping an eye on Kurenai incase she decided to beat him within an inch of his life.

"Ok, take today, for instance, when you lost your boxers. And you got all embarrassed and you yelled at Sasuke"

"Oh, I see…so that is why Kurenai was glaring…**is** glaring at me" he amended as she started glaring again. "Because she got embarrassed… but why did she get embarrassed?" he asked again.

"Naruto, we're here to talk about Hinata. Now she's not like you, when she gets embarrassed she gets even shyer and blushes – that's why she gets redder"

"Oooooooh" sighed Naruto. "Ok. But why would she run off and say sorry"

"You're her friend Naruto" smiled Kurenai, content with the topic change. "When girls get embarrassed infront of our friends, we like to go and hide. And she was probably sorry that she left you on your own"

"Hmm" thought Naruto dramatically. "I see. So… it wasn't my fault!"

"Well… why was she embarrassed?" asked Kakashi suddenly.

"Hmm… it may have been something to do with me feeding her ramen, and her choking on it and then her spitting it all over me. Not that I minded of course" he grinned as Kurenai inwardly cringed. 'Poor Hinata' she thought.

"That would be it" agreed Kakashi.

"So it _was_ my fault?" asked Naruto sadly. "What should I do?"

"Maybe you should buy her something to say sorry with?" smiled Kurenai.

"Yeah, that's what I'll do… but what should I buy?"

"Naruto, we can't tell you everything. You're going to have to figure some of it out yourself" groaned Kakashi, wondering when Naruto would leave.

"Alright, well, arigatou" he grinned. "Have a nice night" and with that he suddenly vanished leaving two blinking jounin. But Naruto's appearance had broken the ice, and all they could do was laugh and spend the rest of the evening chatting happily.


	18. Armed

I'm SOOOOOO EXTREMELY sorry. I know i haven't updated in forever, and if u want to know why - i got a boyfriend! Woo. Anyway, I've just been so busy with him and exams that it completely skipped my mind. But i will start updating like usual again now that novelty has warn off and exams are over.

As usual - thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter.

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"And then she went and slapped his behind!" laughed Kurenai as tears streamed from her eyes, Kakashi laughing along with her.

"She didn't!" he exclaimed.

"Oh she did" assured Kurenai, clutching Kakashi's arm in an attempt to control her laughter. They were currently walking along the streets of Konoha, not really in any particular direction; neither wanting the night to end just yet and secretly afraid of what would happen when it did.

"Who would have thought Anko… well, actually… that is expected of Anko; but to Ibiki? That's some brave woman!" he grinned.

"I'm not sure if it was brave or just plain stupid" laughed Kurenai. "But apparently his face went so red Anko swore it was going to explode! I doubt he's _ever_ had someone treat him like that before"

"And I doubt he ever will again!" agreed Kakashi. "Though I'm amazed he didn't torture her" he added in thought.

"Well… now that you mention it…" began Kurenai.

"He didn't… what'd he do?" begged Kakashi, thoroughly involved in the tale she was relating and having to laugh at the shy and solemn torturer.

"Tell you what, you get me some dumplings and I'll tell you"

"After all you've jut eaten and you're _still_ hungry?" he grinned.

"Oh no" she assured him with a bigger smile. "These are for Anko for when she finds out that I told you" Kakashi just laughed and went into the shop opposite.

As soon as he disappeared 4 men emerged and surrounded Kurenai.

"My, my, what is a pretty thing like you doing out here all on your own?" snarled one of them as they began circling her. Due to 'clashing with her dress', Kurenai had left her headband at home, meaning the poor men had no idea who they were dealing with, and Kurenai just had to laugh at that.

"Why don't you leave that ugly man and join us" smirked the next.

"I'm sure we could have a really _good_ time together, if you know what I mean" leered another. That caused Kurenai to snap, but she kept her cool appearance.

"Get real" she sneered back. "He's more of a man then the four of you combined"

Well now she'd done it, all four were enraged and attacked as the leader yelled;

"**No-one insults the Odaiba brothers and gets away with it"**

Kurenai dodged their attacks using ninjutsu as Kakashi suddenly appeared with the dumplings. He stopped as he saw Kurenai being ambushed by four burly men.

"KURENAI" he called as he started towards her but stopped as he saw her jump away from the men and grab something from behind her head. He realized that she had used senbon to put her hair up with as she flung the needles at one of the men nearest her, but what Kakashi was watching was her long black curls fall down around her shoulders. He watched, somehow transfixed, as she moved her hand to the slit in her dress and pulled out a kunai, that was obviously attached to a holster on her thigh, and flung it at another man. Kakashi watched as he saw the kunai hit his shoulder and the guy to fall. It was obvious to him now that these men weren't ninjas and hadn't realized she was. Seeing as she wasn't in any danger he leant back against the shop wall and decided to enjoy the show.

'That leaves two' thought Kurenai as she twirled to meet her two remaining opponents. Unlike the others, these two were holding daggers, but she could tell by the way they held them that only the leader had any real knowledge of how to use it. She grinned to herself, 'too easy' she thought.

"Are you just going to stand there and glare at me?" she taunted the smaller man. "What sort of a man are you?" and again, she'd said the magic words. The guy rushed towards her, dagger raised and ready to kill, and it would have done too if Kurenai hadn't side stepped at the last moment, causing the man to run straight into a wall and knock himself out. 'And then there was one' thought Kurenai and spun around to find the leader on his way towards her. He swung and she ducked, narrowly escaping the blade. However, he anticipated this and followed, causing Kurenai to roll out of the way. Kakashi, meanwhile, was thoroughly enjoying this little battle from his seat against the wall.

The man whipped around to face Kurenai who quickly whipped out another kunai from her other leg and blocked his dagger with it. He went to punch her in the face but she went into a back flip, her foot meeting just underneath his chin in the process and causing him to fly backwards and into the wall; joining his brother in unconsciousness. Kurenai straightened, and smirked before being met by a kunai at her neck. Her eyes widened before she took a smell (training Kiba had started to rub off on her) and her look went from shock and fright to annoyance.

"You know you did very well, but I think you missed one" said a muffled voice.

"Knock it off Kakashi" replied an annoyed Kurenai.

"How'd you know it was me?" he asked, pouting slightly (although she couldn't see) as he released her and spun her round to face him.

She blushed slightly and decided he didn't need to know the truth.

"Arigatou for the help" she mocked instead.

"You seemed to be doing fine on your own" he smiled. "Although, I must admit, when you said you were armed, I didn't realize you were serious"

"Well, I'm not anymore"

"That was all you had?" he asked with pretend shock. "In that case I had better protect you, we can't have defenseless ladies wandering around by themselves after dark now, can we?!" he smiled cheekily.

"You've been spending too much time with Jiraiya"

"Oh, speaking of Jiraiya, I saw him earlier, and you'll never guess what he was doing" he smiled.

"Nani?" she asked curiously.

"I'll tell you on the way to mine. I'm sure you'd like to see the outcome"

Kurenai sat down on Kakashi's bed and smiled.

"They're so _cute_" she grinned, flipping through the photos as Kakashi smiled at her. "Aww, look at Hinata and Naruto" she grinned.

"Well, when he insisted that all the kid's ones were innocent; I thought I should develop them to give to them"

"That's an excellent idea" she beamed, flipping to the next photo and seeing a picture of Sasuke gazing at a laughing Sakura. "You know" she mused. "I reckon something happened between them today"

"Hmm?" asked Kakashi as he looked over her shoulder at the photo she was holding. "Ah, hai, they did seem closer then usual"

"You'll probably be getting a visit from him tomorrow then" smiled Kurenai as she turned to the next photo, this time of Neji handing a water kunai to Tenten with their eyes linked. "They make quite a cute couple as well"

Kakashi just nodded as Kurenai kept flipping through the pictures, full of exclamations including "Aww" and "How _cute_"

"Matte!" exclaimed Kurenai suddenly. "These are only pictures of the genin. Where are all the pictures with us in them? This is Jiraiya after all; surely he would have taken pictures of us"  
"Hai, this **_is_** Jiraiya after all, are you sure you want to see them. I told you that the _kid's_ pictures were innocent for a reason" he warned.

"Show me" she ordered as Kakashi got a load of pictures out of his bedside cabinet, causing Kurenai's eyes to widen. Kakashi watched her expressions carefully as she flipped through them all. At the end she turned to him and grinned a mischievous grin.

"They're not half bad, are they" she grinned as Kakashi looked surprised before grinning back.

"Nope, not bad at all"


	19. Prepared!

Hey guys, it's another installment... i gotta say. I'm getting slightly worried now because I'm running out of story. I'd better get my writers cap on! So any ideas are extremely welcome as I'm gonna need all the inspiration i can get! Once again, thanks to all my wonderful reviewers, i couldn't do it without u!

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Sakura sighed as she awoke from her pieceful sleep. She was having such a strange dream, she was kind of sad that it was over now though. She sighed and kept her eyes closed like she did every morning, she loved the feeling after you first wake up, where at first you feel out of place but then you notice the familiar feel of your bed and room and you come back into reality…or maybe that was just Sakura. But it was like a morning ritual, everyday she would keep her eyes closed after awaking and use her mind to pick up the little things in her surroundings.

'Mmm' she thought to herself, 'another morning'. However, this morning it went a bit differently. It was around this time that she usually started noticing the familiar and comforting little things that made her know she was home, but today it still felt a little odd. 'My pillow isn't as firm as it normally is' she thought to herself. 'And I feel like I'm lying on something…and against something'. She was just about to open her eyes to see what was going on when she heard a sigh.

'That definitely wasn't me' she thought. Then she heard the voice whisper something, but all she managed to pick up was one word. 'Angel?' she thought. 'Oh God, somebody's in my room, no, in my bed. That's what I'm leant against' Now that she thought about it, she could distinctly feel a pair of eyes drilling into her. She quickly snapped open her eyes to peer into the onyx ones of Sasuke.

"I'm dreaming" she muttered quickly. "That's it, just dreaming"

"Oh good, you're awake, can you get off me now?" asked Sasuke sternly. Sakura's eyes widened, she had never heard him say that in her dreams before.

"I am dreaming, right?" she asked weakly.

"I'm afraid not, now can you get off me. My arms gone dead"

"Oh" she gasped as she instantly rolled away from him as if she'd just been burnt. "Gomen" she said quickly, not daring to look at him. "It's just so weird" she muttered to no one in particular. "First I have this strange dream and then I wake up with Sasuke-kun…"

"What strange dream?" Sasuke asked monotonously, but secretly interested.

"Well in my dream, I was falling down this waterfall and then you flew and you saved me and then I was suddenly on land and you were telling me it was alright, and then suddenly it all went dark…" she mumbled, slightly amused at how silly it sounded.

"I didn't fly I jumped" Sasuke told her matter of factly.

"It wasn't a dream?" she asked him quietly.

"Hn" he responded causing her eyes to suddenly widen as the events of yesterday suddenly hit her at full speed.

"You really did save me?" she asked, but it was more like a statement. "I'm sorry for being such a burden" she told him before quickly standing up and away from him and his bed. He wanted to grab her just then, tell her she was in no way a burden, and that last night was the best sleep he'd ever gotten, but she continued;

"Would you like me to make breakfast for you as a thank you?"

"That's what the maids are for" he responded. He couldn't let Sakura get to him, he wasn't going to. It was for her own good.

"I guess I'd better be going then. Arigatou gozaimashita for saving me and all you did for me yesterday. I appreciate it. I'll see myself out"

Sasuke just sat there and watched her go before realizing something and running after her. "Sakura" he called as he grabbed her arm to stop her from leaving. She turned to him with a questioning look and he instantly removed his hand and put it in his pocket, where it belonged.

"You're not going out like _that_, are you?" he asked in mild disgust.

"Nani?" she asked as she looked down and realised she was still wearing his t-shirt. "Gomen" she apologized as she went to take it off. "Here, you can have it back"

Sasuke instantly grabbed the bottom of it and pulled it down to stop her from taking it off. "That wasn't what I meant" he assured her.

"Well, what did you mean?" she asked, somewhat confused.

"You should borrow some shorts, that t-shirt is too short"

"Sasuke, it's almost touching my knees" she pointed out as she watched him return with a pair of shorts.

"And as much as it's alright to wear that around me, I don't want other men to start harassing you. You are my teammate after all" he added quickly, making sure she didn't think this was him getting jealous and over protective, because he was Uchiha Sasuke, and he just didn't do that.

"Arigatou" she smiled softly at him before slipping the shorts on. She stood back up and looked at him, shifting from one foot to the other; uncertain as to what else he would let her do.

Sasuke rolled his eyes seeing her debating whether he'd let her hug him. He sighed. "Go on then" he said as Sakura smiled and threw her arms around him, repeating how thankful she was again as Sasuke desperately tried to hold in the smile. "Yeah, well" he just muttered as she let go and almost skipped out of the door. He watched her as she turned around.

"I'll be sure to wash and iron them before I bring them back, don't worry" she called, referring to the clothes. Sasuke just rolled his eyes but couldn't help the small smile that appeared. But as suddenly as it arrived, it vanished.

'What the hell am I doing?" he asked himself. 'I'm still an avenger; I don't have time for girls. It's too risky' and with that he shut the door on her. But even that action couldn't keep the thoughts of her from entertaining his mind.

'Kuso' he cursed to himself. 'I'm going to need help with this. But I can't go to anyone who remotely knows me, or will gossip, or ask annoying questions…' he mentally scanned through all the jounins he knew and stopped at Kurenai.

'It's either that or go crazy' he decided as he shrugged and walked back out of the door on his way to Kurenai's apartment.

Tenten quickly closed her apartment door and started off down the street. After a night of tossing she decided it was time to get some advice. So she was heading towards the Haruno's house. Since Sakura had started training with Tsunade, Tenten and Sakura had grown closer and had become close friends. If anybody could help Tenten, she decided Sakura could.

All of a sudden she heard her name being called, causing her to whip around to see Hinata running to catch up with her.

"Ohayo Hinata" smiled Tenten as she waited for the shy girl to catch up. Hinata smiled, she'd also had a really rough night, dreaming about Naruto, and she decided to ask Tenten for advice. Since Tenten was close with Neji, she often went to the Hyuuga compound for tea and Hinata saw her as an older sister.

"Ohayo" smiled Hinata. Since she felt comfortable around Tenten, she didn't stammer. "I was just coming to look for you Tenten-chan"

"Dousta?" Tenten asked.

"It's about Naruto…" smiled Hinata shyly as she pushed her fingers together.

"Ah" smiled Tenten knowingly. "I was just on my way to Sakura's to ask her advice on boys. Why don't you come with me, I'm sure she could help you with Naruto. She does know him better then anyone after all"

"Hai" smiled Hinata in agreement as they started walking towards Sakura's house.

They were coming up to a cross roads when Hinata suddenly pointed to a figure coming from the other direction. At first glance Tenten just assumed it was the Uchiha, it was certainly his clothes. She was just about to ask after Sakura when she realised the figure had pink hair. 'Definitely not Sasuke then' she thought when it hit her who it really was.

"**SAKURA**" she called out. The figure looked up and smiled as she ran towards them.

"Ohayo Tenten" grinned Sakura. "Hinata" she added.

"We were just on our way to see you" grinned Tenten.

"Really?"

"Hai" replied Hinata. "We've got boy troubles"

"You're not the only ones; I was just on my way to Ino's to get some advice"

"Why don't we all go?" smiled Tenten. "The more advice the better"

"Hai" agreed Sakura and Hinata as they turned down another road and carried on towards the Yamanka's residence.

"It's about time you guys got here" greeted Ino as the three girls finally arrived at her house. "The popcorns about to get cold and I only just kept from digging into the ice cream" Tenten, Sakura and Hinata stared at her in wonder.

"Nani?" asked Ino when all she received was dumbstruck stares. "Come on in then" she smiled as she ushered them all through to the lavishly furnished sitting room. "I figured you'd all end up here sooner or later after yesterday so I thought I'd be prepared. And since I assumed I wasn't going to be the only one with boy issues, I stocked up on plenty of ice cream"

"I love you Ino-pig" sobbed Sakura as she broke down into tears and hugged her friend. Ino looked slightly taken aback.

"Wow, that confusing hey? I always assumed Tenten would be the worse" she joked, earning a punch from stated kunoichi.

They all flopped down onto the plump couches.

"So, who wants to retell their pitiful story about confusing boys first?" grinned Ino before suddenly taking a good look at her best friend.

"Sakura…" she asked suddenly. "What are you doing in Sasuke's clothes?"


	20. Advice

Hey guys, I'm really really REALLY sorry that its taken me forever to update. Its been a hectic year with me starting uni and I had completely lost all my writting inspiration which was depressing for me as well, so I hope you understand. As compensation I am uploading three new chapters and am hoping to start writting again since my inspration seems to be returning. I wanna thank all of you who kept reviewing through this time, you managed to coax the little bit of writting in me to continue, just enough to keep me going. Thanks so much to everyone and I hope you enjoy the next installments. Nessiexxx

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Kurenai heard the door knock and decided she'd better answer it. She opened the door to find Sasuke standing there. Her eyes widened as she stood there looking at him in bewilderment.

"Sasuke" she finally spoke up. "What are you doing here?"

He raised his eyebrow in reply and she realised he could probably ask the same thing. She heard footsteps heading around the corner so she quickly invited him in.

"I didn't know Kakashi owned a shirt" he grinned as Kurenai mentally scolded herself for answering the door wearing only Kakashi's shirt.

"I'm afraid he's in the shower at the moment, your welcome to wait for him…"

"Actually" interrupted Sasuke quietly. "It's you I wanted to talk to. I went to your house but you didn't answer, so I assumed I'd find you here"

"Oh" replied Kurenai, mildly surprised. "Well, what did you want to see _me_ about then?" Sasuke suddenly went quiet and Kurenai could have sworn he was blushing.

"Well, you see, ano…" Kami-sama he hated himself right about now. 'You're acting like the dobe. You're an Uchiha, you can do this'

"Sasuke" soothed Kurenai with a kind smile. "You came to me because you knew I wouldn't tell anyone, I won't ask anything you don't want to tell me and I won't be biased because I hardly know you. And all that is true"

"Well, there's this annoying girl" he started. "And I can't seem to get her out of my head, and then she goes and says this guys name in her sleep, and I swear I would have killed him painfully had she not then said he was annoying"

Kurenai smiled. "That's called jealousy"

"I don't get jealous" Sasuke snapped.

"Sasuke" she soothed again. "You came to me for an honest opinion, and that is it. And everyone gets jealous, whether they want to or not"

"Fine" he gave in. "But I still don't get jealous" he mumbled. "Anyway, I want to know how to make it stop"

"Nani?"

"You heard. I want to know how to make these feelings go away"

"Sasuke" she smiled. "You can't just make your feelings just go away"

"Demo…" he tried to argue but she quietened him.

"Why do you want them to go away anyway?" she asked him instead.

"Because I'm an avenger, I don't have time for girls. And also, everyone who gets close to me dies, I don't think I could stand that again"

"All shinobi live with that fear Sasuke. But the real question is… is it worth it?"

"I don't understand"

"Well… let's look at the difference between you and Naruto"

"You mean how I had to go through the pain and he didn't"

"That's one way of putting it, demo, lets look at it another way. What's your favourite memory of your mother Sasuke?" she asked, causing Sasuke to look at her in complete shock for a while before thinking about it.

"I guess…well… there are so many. I spent a lot of time with my mother. I have so many memories, how she used to patch me up when I hurt myself, or making me feel better about father, or when she took me to the zoo" he smiled.

"What about your father?"

"Well, I guess that has to be after I'd mastered the Great Fireball technique, and he said 'As expected of my son'…" he became quiet as his smile grew and his eyes grew misty.

"What would you do if I gave you the choice of having your parents die before you were ever born like Naruto? You said yourself that he didn't have to go through your pain, but in return, you must give up all of those memories"

Sasuke thought about it seriously and realised something. "I'd rather go through the pain but have those memories, then to not have anything"

Kurenai smiled and nodded at him as Sasuke realised the implications of what he had just said.

"Sasuke, I've only been gone 10 minutes and you're already moving in on my woman" joked Kakashi as he appeared out of the bathroom in his usual jounin gear. Kurenai looked up and smiled at him as Sasuke grinned.

"You're just worried she doesn't think you're man enough" Sasuke grinned back.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"What have you been saying to him?" he asked Kurenai who simply laughed.

"But Kurenai-sensei" said Sasuke suddenly as he turned back to the kunoichi sitting next to him. "My family is totally different from an annoying girl"

"What girl?" asked Kakashi nosily as he sat down the other side of Sasuke.

"We're not asking" replied Kurenai firmly with a warning glare at him.

"Ok" muttered Kakashi.

"It's ok, you can tell him"

"If you want me to" smiled Kurenai as she turned back to Kakashi. "Basically there's this girl that Sasuke likes and he wants to know how to stop thinking about her because he's an avenger. And I was trying to explain to him how it's better to have loved and lost then to never have loved at all"

"Ah" smiled Kakashi as he turned back to his student. "Trust me Sasuke, I've had it far worse off then you have, she's right"

"You've had it worse then me?" he scoffed. "Let's try killing off all your family and see how you like it"

"Well you could" smiled Kakashi. "But you'd have a hard job since they already are. Along with my teammates and sensei as well"

"Oh" muttered Sasuke apologetically.

"Believe me Sasuke, if anyone had a reason to become an avenger, hate life and run away from love, it's me. But losing those I loved has made me realise how important it is to treat every moment as if it's your last and to protect the ones you love who are still with you"

"Life's not worth living alone" added Kurenai. "If you know the girl you like likes you back, then go for it. Because it's those memories, support and love that will get you through life and make you stronger"

"Arigatou" smiled Sasuke as he suddenly hugged Kakashi and Kurenai. They looked at each other in wonder, but still hugged him back.

"You know, you two are going to make amazing parents someday" he smirked.

"Steady" smiled Kakashi. "You're getting a bit far ahead aren't you?"

"He's right. We've only been together a few hours"

"I never said together" he smirked. "You were the ones imagining the silver haired little girl with red eyes and a personality to boot"

Kurenai and Kakashi blushed as they went into their little dream world.


	21. Daydream

"Mummy, mummy" cried a little girl with silver pigtails and red eyes as she ran into the kitchen, clutching her favourite doll tightly.

"What is it Kohana?" asked her mother.

"When's daddy getting home?"

"Any day now" she smiled kindly as she continued the cooking.

"Do you think he'll bring me back a present?"

"He has every other mission, I'm sure this one will be the same"

"Can I have a sweetie?"

"No, wait for your meal; you'll lose your appetite"

"But I'm hungry" whined the little girl.

"Kohana" warned her mother.

"Gomen" she said with a sad face. Kurenai smiled and picked her up.

"Why don't you help me make tea?" she smiled giving her little girl a hug.

"Hai" she smiled as she helped stir the big pot.

"What do we have here, my two favourite ladies making tea?"

"_**DADDY**_" screeched Kohana as she wriggled out of her mother's grasp and ran over to her father. Kakashi quickly scooped her up and swung her around his head.

"Did you get me a present?" she asked excitedly.

"Of course my little flower" he grinned as he brought out a neatly wrapped up package, causing the girl to squeal in excitement. "But don't open it yet"

"Hai Daddy" she grinned. "Can I have a sweetie whilst I wait?"

"Of course" he smiled as Kurenai turned around.

"No she can't, it'll spoil her appetite" Kohana turned to Kakashi and pouted.

"Aw, but Kurenai" he pouted with her. "She's a growing girl, she'll have plenty of room left over, won't you poppet"

"I promise to eat all my greens" she nodded eagerly.

Kakashi walked over behind a sulking Kurenai and whispered 'I'll give you your present now' he told her with a perverted grin.

"Fine" she smiled. "But go eat it in the living room and let me finish cooking"

"Yatta" grinned the little girl as she grabbed her sweet. "Arigatou mummy" and then she disappeared leaving behind her parents.

"You spoil her Kakashi" smiled Kurenai as she turned back to the cooking.

"Aw, I spoil you too though" he smiled back as he started kissing her neck.

"Mmm" she moaned in agreement. "I've missed you"

"Missed you too" he assured her as he turned her around to kiss him.

"_**DADDY**_" they heard a high pitched voice yell. "Come play with me"

Kakashi chuckled as Kurenai pouted.

"She always gets all of your attention"

"I'll make it up to you tonight" he told her with a wink before giving her a kiss. "And you can have these to help you wait"

He passed her an envelope before walking out the room to see his daughter. Kurenai opened the envelope to find two tickets to the Moon Country as a belated honeymoon. Also included were permission slips from Tsunade along with a letter from Shizune about how Genma and she would be delighted to look after Kohana for the week. Kurenai smiled. There was no doubt about it; her husband did spoil both of his favourite girls.


	22. Story telling among friends

Elsewhere Ino, Tenten and Hinata were waiting for the answer they had wanted to know since seeing Sakura.

"Well?" prompted Ino.

"How about I start at the beginning and we go from there?"

"Ok but just get on with it" stated an impatient Ino.

So Sakura filled them in on everything that happened after she had left them, creating a lot of very shocked faces.

"Wow" grinned Tenten, "and I thought mine was bad".

"He called you Angel?" asked Hinata quietly.

"Well I think so" mused Sakura. "But it could have just been my mind playing tricks and hearing things"

"So you're in his clothes because he didn't want other men gawking at you?" said Ino suddenly.

"Ano, I guess so"

"Kawaii" she grinned. "Sasuke finally likes you back"

"You think?" asked Sakura, not very convinced.

"Well why else would he care about what you wear in public?" smiled Ino.

"Because I'm his team mate and he doesn't want me ruining the team reputation?"

"Hmmm good point" conceded Ino. "What do you think Tenten?"

"Well, it's definitely looking better then it was. He did risk his life saving you, and he let you share his bed…"

"True" smiled Sakura.

"And he let you sleep _on_ him without waking you up to get you to move" added Hinata quietly.

"Good point Hinata" grinned Ino. "So we know he likes you… we just don't know how much"

"So who wants to go next?" asked Sakura, trying to change the subject.

"Oo, Tenten has to go next" pleaded Ino.

"Ok" muttered Tenten, glancing at Hinata and not really wanting to share what she got up to with her cousin. "Well after we left we went training…"

"Did you get dressed first?" grinned Ino, noticing that Tenten had deliberately missed that out.

"Ano, no" muttered Tenten. "I was going to but Neji beat me to it and picked up our clothes before walking to where this log had fallen over the river. So we decided to train in taijutsu to see who would fall in first. But Neji cheated because I was winning and basically grabbed me and threw me in instead. So we had a decider match that if I could get Neji to fall in then he'd admit he cheated and I'd win"

"Ok" butted in Ino. "No offence but apart from him grabbing you this doesn't sound like a very romantic story"

"Let her finish" chided Sakura. "I'm sure it'll get better"

"You have no idea how right you are" muttered Tenten quietly. "So anyway, after throwing loads of water weapons at him without any use I decided to distract him by letting my hair down"

"Oh I bet that worked" squealed Hinata. "Neji's obsessed with your hair"

"Hai, it did. He stared at me whilst I flung a water kunai at him and he fell in…"

She stopped, furiously blushing as she remembered what happened next as the other girls all waited for her to continue.

"Well" Ino broke first. "What happened next?"

"Well after he fell in the stream he didn't resurface, so I called him, and then I felt someone behind me move my hair to the side. And he whispered 'two can play that game' and then he… well he…"

"He attacked you neck" squealed Ino, overly enthused and not able to conceal it.

"Oh Kami-sama he didn't" squealed Sakura, and as Tenten's blush deepened they knew he had.

"What was it like?" sighed Sakura dreamily.

"Amazing" admitted Tenten with a small smile.

"What happened after that?" asked Hinata quietly, reminding Tenten how awkward this must be for Neji's cousin.

"Well I felt him smirk so I walked away and told him it was 'nice'"

"Nice?" asked Ino.

"It wound him up and he ran up behind me and flung me against a tree and…"

"AND…" pleaded Sakura and Ino, fully engrossed in the tale.

"He kissed me" Tenten added quietly, blushing fully as she thought of how much of an understatement it sounded.

"How" asked Sakura suddenly.

"How what?" asked Tenten confused.

"What was the kiss like?" supplemented Ino.

"Well…passionate and…ano…hard" a lot more blushing. Tenten mentally cursed herself, she had never blushed so much in her life, and now she couldn't stop,

Ino and Sakura squealed as Hinata grinned, choosing to see it as romantic and nothing else for her minds sake.

"Then he suddenly stopped and stepped back, and I kinda dropped to the floor and then he said sorry and ran off" Tenten finished, glad it was over.

"Wow" commented Sakura. "Your right, that is worse"

"But obvious" grinned Ino, physical bouncing up and down.

"What do you mean?" questioned Tenten.

"Oh come on, it's obvious that he must like you back" she grinned, hugging her friend. Tenten just sat there as Ino continued to hug her and then retake her seat. Tenten looked to Sakura who was happily munching through a pot of Cookie Dough and then to Hinata who seemed happy enough.

"Nande?" asked Tenten, still not sure why everyone was so certain.

"Guys don't normally go around kissing girls" pointed out Sakura before chucking the popcorn at Ino who up until then had been gesturing madly at it.

"OW" cried Ino as she got hit with the bag. She glared at Sakura before turning to Tenten and nodding. "She's right though"

"Demo I was in my underwear" reminded Tenten. "And Neji's just a guy, maybe he just got carried away…"

"Well of course he got carried away" butted in Ino, rolling her eyes. "But guys don't kiss girls they don't fancy"

"Especially Neji" added Hinata quietly. "You've seen what he's like around girls. He treats them like they don't exist… the only girls he even acknowledges are either family" she paused. "Or you"

"That's just because I'm his team mate" Tenten argued.

"Tenten" snapped Sakura. "If Sasuke had kissed me – what would you say?"

"But that's different…" she began.

"No it's not. You're lucky; at least you know your guy really fancies you"

"Then why did he run away" yelled Tenten suddenly, causing everyone to fall silent and Tenten to look down, begging the tears not to fall.

"He's unsure of how he feels, and as you said, he got caught in the moment. He probably just needs time to sort his head out" soothed Ino kindly.

"What happened with Naruto Hinata?" asked Sakura, knowing how Tenten felt and changing the subject for her.

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Ok, well thats the end of the three installments, hope they're ok and you enjoyed them. Hopefully the next ones will be along soon but i cant promise anything at the moment i'm afraid. Thanks for putting up with me and Ya ne.


	23. HInata's and Ino's stories

"Yea, how did it go at Ichiraku's

"Yea, how did it go at Ichiraku's?" asked Ino eagerly, forgetting all about Tenten, much to the girl's relief.

"Ano… not too well" said Hinata sadly. "I kinda spilt ramen on him" Her face went from bright red to confused as all the girls rolled around the floor laughing.

"What's so funny?" she asked.

"Why do you think that's a bad thing?" grinned Tenten.

"Yea, after becoming Hokage his other wish is to have a bath in ramen!" exclaimed Sakura, clutching her sides as she fought for control.

"I bet he didn't mind at all" grinned Ino, causing Hinata to relax and smile along. "But why did you get ramen all over him?" she continued.

"Ano, well, you see, I was kind of in a dream world, and I hadn't realized that our ramen had arrived until Naruto shoved a load in my mouth and caused me to choke. He then whacked me on the back and I… kinda… spat it over him" she said, blush returning full force.

"Well then it was totally his own fault" comforted Tenten as Ino and Sakura rolled around the floor again, stomachs aching with laughter.

Just then there was a knock on the door causing the laughing kunoichi to sit up and look at it.

"I wonder who that could be" Ino said before going to get the door. She was surprised to see Naruto standing there folding a box of ramen, scratching his head nervously.

"May I help you?" asked Ino, one perfect eyebrow raised in amusement.

"Ano, I was looking for Hinata" he half said half asked.

"She's inside" smiled Ino subtly.

"Oh, Kawaii, ano, could you give this to her" he said, handing over the ramen much to Ino's surprise. "And tell her I'm sorry for making her embarrassed" and with that the demon-fox boy ran off leaving a bewildered Ino. She shrugged and headed back inside.

"Hey Hinata" she grinned. "I've got a present for you" She handed over the ramen as the girl sat puzzled.

"Whose it from?" she asked.

"Naruto" Ino grinned bouncing around.

"Oh my God really?" squealed Sakura.

"Yup, he wanted to apologize for embarrassing you yesterday"

"There you are Hinata, I told you he'd know it was all his fault" grinned Tenten as Hinata sat there in a daze.

"You may be in with a chance after all girl" grinned Ino, causing Hinata to snap out of her daze.

"You really think so?" she asked, a small smile appearing on her face.

"Who knows, but it's sure looking positive" grinned Sakura as Tenten agreed, leaving Hinata to go back into dreams of Naruto.

"You're next Ino" grinned Sakura as Ino started to look nervous.

"Well…" she started. "After we left he lead me to a tree, and said there was something he wanted to show me at the top. So I went to use my chakra to climb it but I didn't have any left, so he told me to climb it…"

"Hold up, hold up" grinned Tenten. "Climb as in getting twigs in your hair climb"

"As in scratch your knee climb?" added Sakura.

"As in break your nails climb?" continues Tenten.

"As in…"

"Yes, yes, I get your point. It's not my sort of gig" huffed Ino. "But Shikamaru taught me how to do it so I followed him up the tree anyway"

"Wow" commented Sakura. "You must really love him"

"Really, really love him" added Tenten.

"Really, really, REALLY…"

"Would you guys quit it" yelled Ino, close to breaking point.

"Sorry" grinned Tenten. "It's just… you have to admit. It's not everyday that most beautiful kunoichi in Konoha climbs a tree"

Ino was totally oblivious to the fact that Tenten was only calling her that to calm her down, and Tenten had to nudge Sakura before she gave her away.

"Alright, I guess I can let you off" grinned Ino.

"So what happened?" prodded in Hinata, finally coming out of her dream world.

"Well…" began Ino dramatically before spilling out the whole story.

"So after realizing that I _MAY_ be in love with him, I completely and utterly kicked his ass for making me go through that. And then" she continued, wrapped in her rant. "You know what he did? He grinned and said "mendouksai", I mean mendouksai indeed. HE was the one that caused us to possibly fall to our deaths, and he thinks I'M troublesome? Humph" she sulked, looking at the girls for agreement but finding massive grins instead.

"AWWWWWW" grinned Sakura girlishly.

"Yes, yes, but it doesn't show anything as to whether he likes me or not"

"Hm good point" said Tenten thoughtfully. "He did smile when he said mendouksai though so that's a plus; if he'd meant it he would have been rolling his eyes or something"

"You think?" asked Ino, quite unsure.

"It's a possibility" smiled Hinata kindly.

"Well this is great" moaned Sakura. "All we've come up with is four 'possibilies'. We need help" she sulked.

"We really do, from some more experienced kunoichi" agreed Tenten.

"Like Kurenai-Sensei?" asked Hinata timedly.

"And Tsunade-shishou" exclaimed Sakura excitedly.

"And I guess we could ask Shizune-sama and Anko-sama as well" grinned Ino, jumping up and down with Sakura as Tenten rolled her eyes.

"Ok" she interrupted. "Hinata, you can ask your sensei, Ino you can ask Anko, and Sakura and I will go see Tsunade and Shizune"

"Let's go there first" beamed Sakura before rushing out the door, closely followed by Ino.

"Come on Hinata" smiled Tenten as she casually stood before following them out.

--

Hope you enjoyed and please remember to review. I will try my best to get a chapter out every week depending on my mood - which will obviously increase if I get lots of reviews... lol, but once a week is a set thing. anyway, ya ne


	24. Neji

Sorry for the late update, I'm currently busy with exams and coursework but hopefully the next one will be up sometime next week. ANyway, enjoy xx

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Neji awoke the next day not feeling any calmer then the day before, for the past 7 hours he had been beating trees into sawdust in the middle of the forest, which wasn't helping

Neji awoke the next day not feeling any calmer then the day before, for the past 7 hours he had been beating trees into sawdust in the middle of the forest, which wasn't helping. Every time he set his eyes upon a tree he could see Tenten pushed up against it, breathing heavily, before he smashed the image... and consequently the tree... into oblivion. There was just one thing Neji didn't understand:

'Why did I kiss her in the first place?'

The question had been plaguing him ever since he ran away from her, which was another annoyance on his mind. He was Hyuuga Neji, he did not 'run away' from anything.

'**You ran away from her though didn't you, just like a coward'**

... His inner wasn't helping.

'Alright "I'm better then you even though I am you so it' impossible" answer me this; why did I kiss Tenten?'

'**Like you just said, I am you. So if you don't know then how should I know?'**

'Hn'

It had been the same conversation the entire time and Neji was frustrated that he wasn't getting anywhere. He needed someone he could confide in, but he was Hyuuga Neji, he didn't confide in anyone... accept Tenten... and it's not like he could ask her about this.

'**Don't you ever hate being Hyuuga Neji and being able to do anything'**

"Oh shut up" finally snapped Neji as his inner wound him up to the extreme, however what he hadn't realised was that he had yelled it out loud, and as luck (if you could call it that) would have it, his teem mate happened to be walking past.

"MY YOUTHFUL RIVAL" cried Rock Lee, instantly by Neji's side. "What is troubling you on this youthful day?"

Neji almost groaned but he was Hyuuga Neji and...well you get it by now.

"It's nothing Lee" he insisted calmly.

"Nonsense, something is troubling my youthful rival and I swear I will discover what it is or I will run 500 laps around Konoha for having failed my youthful friend"

"Hn" uttered Neji, trying to decide if Lee's help would be worth the loss of dignity, but since he wasn't getting anywhere by himself, he thought it might be worth a try.

"So what is it Neji?" prodded Lee when he noticed Neji seemed to be giving in.

"Well, if you had to kiss a girl – who would it be?" asked Neji, using his genius to construct the right questions so as not to look suspicious.

"Sakura-chan of course" grinned Lee easily.

"Hn. And why?"

"Because she's very youthful and pretty and I love her" replyed Lee seriously. Neji almost laughed at the amount of thought Lee seemed to take over his question. "Who would you kiss Neji?" asked Lee suddenly causing Neji to flinch slightly.

"Hn" he replied before walking off. Lee just watched him go, used to Neji's avoidance by walking off by now.

'Youthful, pretty, love' thought Neji as he walked. He then thought of Tenten to see if any of the answers matched. 'Well I'm sure Lee would class her as youthful, and I guess she's kinda pretty...'

'**Did you not see her undressing? She was HOT'**

Neji just mentally rolled his eyes at his inner before continuing.

'Love'

Was he in love with Tenten, its true that they spend a lot of time together, and he respects her, and he's closer to her more then anyone else...

It was at that point that he noticed Shikamaru watching clouds on the approaching hill, deciding this was fate he went to sit next to him.

"Girl troubles?" Shikamaru asked without even looking up.

Saying Neji was shocked was an understatement but he managed a non committal "hn" anyway.

"Mendouksai" sighed Shikamaru. "That's all women are. Can't live with them, can't live without them"

Neji thought about this for a second, could he live life without Tenten, he was sure he could, but it did look a lot more lonely and dull without her smile.

"Is Tenten as bossy as Ino?" Shikamaru asked calmly, making Neji find it surprisingly easy to talk to the lazy ninja.

"Not always" he said, hiding the smile playing on his lips.

"Your lucky then" mused Shikamaru as he continued looking at clouds. "Life would be so much simpler without them... but not as fun"

"Or bright" added Neji subconsciously. "So you've fallen for Ino huh?"

"Think I always had" smiled Shikamaru. "Ever since my dad first introduced me to his best friend's daughter, but then again at that age Ino had everyone wrapped around her little finger. Bright blue eyes, blond pig tails, adorable innocent smile, of course I never realised until recently, but even genius's have to be slow on some things" he smiled, finally glancing at Neji to see him sitting with a far away look.

"I guess your right" agreed Neji, gazing at the clouds.

"What about Tenten?" asked Shikamaru, returning his gaze to the sky.

"She wasn't a fan girl" smiled Neji. "She worked hard at her training and wasn't afraid of being injured. She's kind and bright and listens. She's always there when I need her and she always gives her all in everything she does"

"You kissed her didn't you?" stated Shikamaru calmly, as if it was a fact.

"Hn" grumbles Neji, starting to regret asking a genius for advice.

"And then you ran off and now you don't know how to approach her"

"Hn"

"Mendouksai"

They were silent for a while, both watching the clouds.

"So come on genius" said Neji, breaking the silence. "What do I do?"

Shikamaru finally sat up and turned to Neji.

"That is for you to decide. But don't worry; you'll know what to do when the time comes" And with that he got up and left, leaving a very confused Neji muttering something about good for nothing lazy geniuses and troublesome girls.

--

Don't forget to review xx


	25. More Advice

Hey guys, yea i know it's been forever and I promised it wouldnt happen again but you know how life is. Anywho heres the next upload and I finally have my flow back so the rest should follow quickly, although i am in spain so dont get your hopes up or anything! But I promise to try hrer. Anyway, hope you like it.

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tap tap tap

"Come in" called Tsunade, looking up to see Sakura peep her head round the door.

"Tsunade-shishou, can I talk to you a second?" She then noticed the extra 3 faces looking at her and quickly added "I can come back if it's a bad time"

"No not at all" smiled Tsunade. "Oh and you can tell the others that they can all come in too"

Sakura smiled before disappearing briefly before opening the door properly and walking in, followed by the other 3 kunoichi.

"So girls, what can I do for you?" asked Tsunade brightly.

"Let me guess" butted in Kurenai before any of the girls could even start thinking of how to answer. "You're all here because you want advice about your boy troubles, right?"

All four mouths dropped at once as the kunoichi gazed at her in surprise.

"How did you know that?" asked Hinata.

"Lucky guess" grinned Kurenai, thinking back to the two boys that had visited her earlier.

"Boy troubles eh?" Grinned Anko mischievously. "You've come to the right place my children. Now, tell me ALL about it"

"Anko, don't be so disrespectful. They may be young but one day they'll be able to kick your behind" chastised Shizune.

"And I'm sure they don't want to be the height of gossip all around Konoha" added Kurenai with a pointed look.

Seeing the worried faces of the silent girls Tsunade spoke up. "Well as your Hokage I shall make it law that no one is allowed to speak a word about what we discuss in this office for fear of being put in the stocks"

"Um, Tsunade-sama… we don't have stocks" pointed out Shizune.

"Well if anyone betrays us we will make some"

"Hai, Tsunade-sama"

"So, Sakura, why are you so confused?" prompted Kurenai.

"Well it all started after training yesterday, usually I ask him to do something with me afterwards but yesterday it was just so hot that I couldn't be bothered, so I was walking away and then he asked me to go swimming with him. He admitted to having fun but not much else and when I woke up this morning he didn't act any nicer then usual, well he let me hug him but that's about it, oh and he made me keep his clothes so that I wouldn't disgrace the team"

"So basically you ignored him and he responded?" asked Anko.

"Well I guess so yea" muttered Sakura.

"Well that's easy then" grinned Anko. "All you have to do is ignore him, he'll realize how much he misses you and you'll be together in no time"

"I don't know if I could manage it" said Sakura sadly.

"It'll only take a day" smiled Tsunade. "Besides you're my apprentice and I didn't take on a quitter. You want Sasuke or not?"

"Will it really work?" asked Sakura hopefully.

"Almost definitely" grinned Kurenai, thinking back to her conversation with Sasuke. "Besides, you don't have to totally ignore him, just treat him how he usually treats you… just not so obviously"

"Ok, that doesn't sound too hard" She grinned.

"What about you Ino?" asked Shizune.

"Well, there's this guy…"

"Shikamaru" Sakura helpfully filled in.

"Thanks Sakura" muttered Ino. "Anyway, he always thinks I'm 'troublesome' and I really like him but I'm nothing like the girl he wants…"

"How do you know?" asked Kurenai.

"Because his life plan involves him marrying an average girl who is averagely pretty and not 'troublesome'… everything I'm not" she sighed. "And there's nothing I can do to change that".

"And Neji's the head of the Hyuuga clan" burst out Tenten. "He needs someone from a high family, or at least with a surname, someone beautiful and polite and perfect, everything I'm not."

"Woah woah" cut in Anko. "Well this one is slightly trickier but fortunately you have the perfect friends. What you need to do is get tips from each other. Ino, you dress Tenten up much more girlie and sexier, and Tenten you dress Ino down as your average girl"  
"So what you saying is, I'm perfect for Shikamaru and Ino should be with Neji?" asked Tenten heart-broken.

"No, what she's saying is similar to what we said to Sakura. They love you they just don't realize that and all you need to do is act the opposite so they realize how much they miss the real you" calmed Shizune.

"It's simple reverse psychology" grinned Anko. "Works every time"

"Ok, it's worth a go I guess" smiled Tenten politely.

"Yea" agreed Ino. "But if Shikamaru ends up realizing that Tenten's his perfect girl then I will kill you all" she threatened, causing the adults to just laugh.

"Don't worry princess, it's almost guaranteed to work. Besides, Shikamaru may be slow when it comes to these things, but he's still a genius. He's probably already figured it out" laughed Tsunade.

"Neji too" added Hinata quietly.

"Oh Hinata" smiled Kurenai. "How are you and Naruto?"

"Ano, I'm thinking of giving up" she all but whispered. "He needs someone more outgoing"

"Then become more outgoing" grinned Anko. "Practice on these guys and then stroll right up to Naruto and ask him out"

"Ano, ok" she mumbled. Knowing it wasn't going to be anywhere near that easy no matter how much she wanted to.

"Glad we could be of service. Now run along and go get those boys of yours" grinned Tsunade before dismissing them.

"Arigatou" called the girls as they exited the office, nervous about the day ahead and yet filled with hope.


	26. The makeover

Ok, I know it's been a really really long time since i started this, and i'm really sorry, but i promise that i will finish this story. Anyway, enjoy.

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"Ok, well I'm going to go home and wash Sasuke-kun's clothes so I can give them back to him" grinned Sakura, turning to skip away until Ino grabbed her.

"You're supposed to be ignoring him remember?" she pointed out.

"Oh yea" replied Sakura, grin dropping from her face. "But what do I do if he asks for them?"

"Tell him you've been busy and forgot all about it" ordered Tenten.

"Ok…" sighed Sakura. "Well I guess I'll be off now for training. See you guys later"

"Good luck" grinned Ino.

"You'll do fine" added Hinata.

"Give him hell" grinned Tenten before Sakura disappeared.

"Ok, so you want to come over to my house to get ready?" asked Ino as the other girls nodded. Once there she led them straight up into her room where she instantly flung open her closet doors and started pulling out clothes.

"Um, Ino, what are you doing?" asked Tenten worriedly.

"You heard Anko-sama; we need to find you something sexy to wear and me something average"

"Do you even own anything average?" asked Tenten with a raised eyebrow as Ino scowled at her.

"Try this on" Tenten looked down at the extremely low cut dress with a slit up the leg in disgust as she tossed it back.

"I can't wear that to training, I can't even wear that period" As Ino opened her mouth to object she added "I don't WANT to wear that period"

"Fine" sighed Ino before figuring that she was just going to have to do sexy and elegant in a casual sort of way. "Here"

She tossed Tenten a very short denim mini skirt and a simple strappy top. Tenten raised her eyebrow again. "You call that a skirt?" but she soon gave in and headed towards the bathroom to change. In five minutes she returned with a blush on her face trying desperately to pull the skirt down.

"It's even shorter on" she complained. "Can I at least wear something underneath? And I swear you can see my breasts" she added, pointing to the large amount of cleavage showing at the V-neck. "I don't know whether I should be pulling the top up or down" she insisted, referring about the slight slither of midriff showing.

"Neither, it looks perfect where it is" grinned Ino. "And as for the skirt, you're wearing underwear aren't you?"

"Of course" burst Tenten, blushing madly again, still tugging on the bottom. "But I'm not used to wearing skirts and I swear I'm going to end up flashing someone"

"Well as long as it's Neji it's fine" grinned Ino before grabbing her hairbrush. "Now turn around"

"What are you doing with my hair?" asked Tenten, eyes widening.

Ino, however, didn't reply and just started taking it out of its buns and brushing the long cascading hair down her back.

"Hmm" she murmured, looking her up and down. "What do you think Hinata, fully down or a half ponytail, I don't think we need to do anything fancy"

"Half up" smiled Hinata. Ino nodded in agreement before pulling half of Tenten's hair into a ponytail causing the older girl to wriggle and plead with them.  
"But I NEVER wear my hair in anything but buns. What will people think of me? What will Neji think of me?"

"Do you not remember what happened last time Neji saw you with your hair down? I think it's pretty obvious what Neji's going to be thinking" grinned Ino, admiring her work before turning and grabbing her purse full of makeup.

Tenten glared at her. "Touch me with that and I'll break your arm"

"Do you want Neji to love you or what?" asked Ino. "Look, I promise I won't put too much on, just enough ok?"

Tenten glared but hesitantly agreed as Ino squealed before grabbing a tube of cherry lip gloss and some mascara and eye liner.

Tenten hastily glanced at her reflection in the mirror and had to admit that she didn't look bad, and extremely unrecognizable.

"Do you think he'll recognize me?"

"Of course, he's a genius. Might take a while but he will" grinned Ino. "So, what do you think?"

Tenten looked at Hinata who grinned back and nodded.

"I think…" started Tenten with an evil grin on her face. "That it's your turn" causing Ino to blanch and gulp.

"Ok, but go easy on me"

"First things first, I need you to take off ALL of your makeup"

---------

Shikamaru opened his eyes as he heard the loudest, shrillest scream possible and could only wonder what his troublesome teammate was up to now.

---------

"I can't let Shikamaru see me without my make-up on, I can't let ANYONE see me without my makeup on" she screeched as Tenten and Hinata quickly covered their ears.

"Ino, calm down, it's only one day" sighed Tenten, suddenly understanding why Shikamaru called Ino troublesome so much.

Ino looked from one stern face to the other and moaned before turning her frown into a puppy eyed pout. Unfortunately the pout doesn't work so well on girls and Tenten just shoved her into the bathroom. Whilst Ino was taking off her make-up Tenten was rummaging through her wardrobe trying to find something less… Ino. Even with Hinata helping they weren't getting anywhere and were about to give up until Hinata came across a bag hidden right at the very back of the wardrobe. Curiously they emptied out the contents onto the bed and found exactly what they were looking for. Sifting through the pile of baggy trousers and t-shirts Tenten picked out some loose fitting ¾ lengths whilst Hinata pulled out a simple t-shirt with the slogan "You can look but you can't touch" on the front.

"Where on _earth_ did you find _them_?" screeched Ino upon exiting the bathroom and seeing the mound of unflattering clothes.

"Bag at the back" grinned Tenten. "I think we've been pretty generous with our choosing though" she added as she thrust the pants and t-shirt at Ino. "Now go put them on"

Ino, too shocked to respond, did as she was told and came out sniffling.  
"These aren't form fitting at all, they're positively revolting, and I look really fat" she complained as Tenten rolled her eyes and Hinata smiled apologetically.

"I guess we could always pick something else…"

"No" Tenten interrupted. "This is perfect. You look absolutely average and that's the idea remember? Besides, it's only one day"

"I guess so" mumbled Ino, still sulking bout her ruined appearance. "Can I at least put on a little bit of make-up?" she pleaded.

"No" insisted Tenten. "We do this right or we don't do it at all. Now hand me your hair brush"

"What's wrong with my hair?" cried Ino as Hinata passed her the brush.

"Too fancy" nodded Tenten thoughtfully. "It needs to be less… perfect" Thus saying she quickly took it out of the neat ponytail and redid it in a messy bun,

"Much better"

"My hair" moaned Ino as she took a look at herself in the mirror. "My clothes, my make-up, my whole appearance. I look so… common"

"Good" grinned Tenten evilly.

"I think you look really pretty Ino" smiled Hinata nicely.

"You would say that" moaned Ino.

"Ok, and now we'll work on your personality" grinned Tenten, causing Ino to shriek out in protest.

"What's wrong with my personality?"

"We have to make you average and not troublesome remember? That means no arguing, no shouting, and no commanding. You just need to be quiet and agree to anything he says" said Tenten sternly.

"Well then you need to become much more girly and chirpy" glowered Ino.  
"No way" said Tenten sternly. "Neji doesn't WANT a girlie girl, why do you think I'm the only girl he can stand? If I change that he'll hate me"

"Ano" butted in Hinata before an all out war began. "Can someone teach me how to be braver and louder now?"

"Oh sure Hinata" grinned Tenten. "Uh… Ino?"

"Well you just sort of have to believe in yourself"

"How?" asked a confused Hinata.

"Repeat after me" grinned Ino. "I am always right, and everyone else is always wrong"

"You can't say that" glared Tenten.

"Why not? Makes me feel more confident and loud"

"Yes but she doesn't want to be that loud" smirked Tenten as Ino glared. "Hinata, there isn't really a secret to being brave. You just have to believe in yourself and remember that other people's opinions of you only matter if you let them matter"

"Huh?" asked Ino.

"I think I get it" nodded Hinata slowly. "Your saying that I'm caring too much about what other people think but it's more important that I like myself and believe in myself, and if I can do that then I'll be naturally more confident"

"What?" asked Ino, completely lost.

"Exactly" grinned Tenten. "You can be confident without being obnoxious"

"Hey" yelled Ino, not knowing what they had been talking about but recognizing an insult when she heard one.

"Think quiet and timid, remember Ino?" grinned Tenten sticking out her tongue.

Ino muttered some insulting words under her breath before walking towards the door. "Come on" she moaned. "Let's get the embarrassment over with"


	27. ShikaIno

Ino walked into her teams training grounds, not at all surprised to find someone missing.

"Is Shikamaru late _again_?" she asked exasperated.

"I'm afraid so Ino" smiled Asuma, cigarette in mouth.

"Here he comes" pointed out Choji round a mouth full of crisps.

Everyone turned to Ino, preparing for the long rant she was about to give, but just as she was about to start, Ino remembered what Anko had said, so taking a deep breath she smiled and said instead;

"Good morning Shika-kun"

Shikamaru stood there blinking, before his mind finally comprehended what had just happened and responded.

"Good morning Ino" he said warily, eyeing her new clothes with suspicion.

"Well then" started Asuma, breaking the silence. "Now that we're all here we should start training. So what should we do today Ino?"

Ino, still in character simply smiled and replied "why don't we let someone else choose today, after all, we are a team"

That's it, decided Shikamaru, there was definitely something wrong with his team mate and he had a slight suspicion as to what it might be.

"How about you go and train Choji and I'll train with Ino?" suggested Shikamaru, already coming up with plans of how to proceed.

"Good idea" nodded Asuma, grinning at his two pupils with much interest. "Come along Choji" and with that the two disappeared into the trees.

"So" smiled Ino, turning to Shikamaru "what shall we do now?"

"Oh" smiled Shikamaru playfully. "I was thinking we could just watch clouds"

He watched with great interest as Ino's eye began to twitch and was impressed that she managed to keep quiet.

"Umm..." thought Ino, trying desperately to find a way to order him around whilst being quiet. "Didn't Asuma sensei say we should train?" she asked innocently, doing a wonderful impression of Hinata just without the stuttering.

"No, he asked what you wanted to do, and then you said that I could decide instead, and this is what I decided" smiled Shikamaru intelligently.

"THAT'S NOT" yelled Ino before quickly quietening down. "I mean, that's not what he meant. He, um, meant for you to, uh, pick a way for us to train"

She smiled with herself, pleased with how quiet that sounded, until Shikamaru piped up:  
"Ino, adding lots of ums and uh's doesn't make you sound shy and quiet, it makes you sound unintelligent"

And that's when Ino finally snapped.

"What the hell is it you want Shikamaru? I've been trying to be your perfect girl and it hasn't even fazed you, do you just care that little about me? I mean what the hell is your problem, it's like you've been purposefully trying to get me to snap all day. I mean..."

"I have" interrupted Shikamaru, watching as she stopped ranting and waving her arms around.

"Excuse me?" she questioned, head tilted to the side with an adorable look on her face which made Shikamaru smile even more.  
"I have been purposefully winding you up to make you snap" he repeated calmly.

"WHY?"

"Because you're cute when you're angry and I missed the old, bossy Ino"

"You, I, what?" asked a thoroughly confused Ino.

"I like" started Shikamaru, walking towards her, "the old" he bent his head down, "bossy, you" and with that he kissed her.

Ino swayed a bit on her feat as Shikamaru moved back, standing there with a dazed expression, until his words sank in.

"BOSSY?" she screeched. "I'm not bossy"

"Of course you are Ino. You're the bossiest most troublesome woman I have ever met, and I love you for it" He answered smoothly, causing her to grin and jump up and hug him.

"I love you too Shika"

"Good, so what do you _really_ want to do Ino?"

"Hmm" she thought tapping her chin. "I want to..." then she smiled. "Go shopping at the mall and change out of these hideous clothes"

Shikamaru sighed. "I knew you were going to say that". But Ino couldn't care less; she grabbed his hand and ran in the direction of the mall, only stopping when Shikamaru tugged her back to him before putting his arm around her waist instead.

Sure Shikamaru hadn't been lying when he called Ino the 'bossiest most troublesome woman he'd ever met', but he wouldn't change her for the world... even if that meant having to buy her five new outfits to get over the scars of her current one.


	28. Nejiten

Neji sat alone at his teams training grounds; Gai and Lee had left to train alone hours ago, leaving him to wait for Tenten. Not that he had any real hope that she'd show up after yesterday, but since he had nothing better to do he decided to sit and wait anyway.

"Hey Neji, sorry I'm late" called Tenten as she finally arrived at the training grounds. Looking up, Neji's jaw dropped at the sight of what she was wearing. She was wearing a skirt, Tenten NEVER wore skirts unless she had to, and even though he could see shorts peeking out from underneath it was still way too short and un-Tenten like. Then there was the top that was far too form fitting and low cut for him to manage any kind of sensible thinking, and the fact her hair was down wasn't helping either.

Slowly he stood up and for a moment they both just stood looking at each other, Neji wondering what the hell to do or say whilst Tenten analyzed his expressions. Then, much to Neji's relief, she smiled and asked the one question he could deal with:

"So you want to spar or what?"

"Hn" he almost smiled back and got into his ready stance.

The spar started off normal enough with Tenten throwing huge waves of weapons and Neji having to dodge them. And even continued on normally as Tenten ran out of weapons and the spar turned into hand on hand combat. However, whilst trying to dodge Neji's deadly attacks, Tenten had managed to find herself backed up against a tree, which in itself wasn't that unusual. What was unusual was the way he froze, staring down at a heavily breathing Tenten whose heaving chest was more on show than usual. And so the spar came to an abrupt halt, with the two staring at each other, wondering who would make the first move and what it should be. In the end it was Tenten who snapped first, gently leaning towards Neji and placing a featherlike kiss on his lips. She pulled back and watched as a small smile flittered across Neji's face as the realization that she liked him back sunk in.

"Let's go get something to eat" decided Neji and he turned to walk away, leaving Tenten to catch up as usual. Poor Tenten was confused beyond belief, the smile on his face after she'd kissed him suggested that he really did like her, however the fact that he was walking away now would have suggested otherwise. Left in her own confused mind the pair walked quietly, side by side, through the streets of Konoha, until a random boy approached them.

"Hey beautiful" he purred at Tenten, causing her to snap her head up towards his voice.

"Hi?" asked Tenten warily; noticing with satisfaction the way Neji glowered at the newcomer.

"I was just wondering if such a beautiful lady would like to accompany me to get some lunch?" he proposed, flashing her a charming smile. Before Tenten got a chance to turn him down Neji was already in front of her, arms crossed and a deathly aura radiating from his every pore.

"You see all those other guys staring at her beauty? And how none of them are getting within a 5 meter radius of us? Do you know why that is?" The guy seemed to have a bigger backbone then Neji gave him credit for because he simply smirked and replied.

"Because they're not worthy of her time"

"It's because they value their lives. You see" he looked down at the newcomer, an evil smirk sliding across his face. "She already has a boyfriend, one who will tear any guy that approaches her with less than pure intentions, limb from limb. Until he wishes he'd never set eyes on her. Do I make myself clear?"

Fortunately the boy seemed to have some brains because he nodded quickly and ran off before Neji had time to raise his fisted hand.

"Since when" asked Tenten, eyebrow raised "do I have a boyfriend?"

Neji simply turned to her and shrugged. "Since now" and with that he started walking again.

"Oh, hold up now Mr hotshot" she said, grabbing his hand before he could walk away from her. "Who gives you the right to just assume I'll go out with you? I have a mind of my own, thank you very much, and IF I'm going to be your girlfriend you are going to have to remember that"

Neji rolled his eyes. "I know you like me, and I know you wouldn't say no so why bother asking when it's obvious? And Tenten, I know you have your own mind, I just happen to know what it is without you having to speak it"

"Well you're going to have to change that because I refuse to go out with you if you can't even be bothered to ask me" she crossed her arms and stood there waiting. Neji mock glared at her before giving in.

"Fine, will you go out with me?"

"Of course I will Neji-kun" she grinned, attaching herself to his arm. "Like you even had to ask" flashing him a mischievous smile she started pulling him in the direction of Ichiraku's again. Neji just shook his head.

"I take it back; you are just as troublesome as Ino" Tenten stopped, put a hand over her heart and pouted up at Neji with big puppy-dog eyes.

"You think I'm troublesome?" Before Neji could answer she laughed and continued. "You've been spending too much time with Shikamaru"

"Hn" commented Neji, but smiled never the less before pushing her towards a fancier restaurant.


End file.
